 English-born
Isobel George has been living and painting in California for the
past fifteen years, experimenting with various media including oil,
acrylic and gouache, but always returning to her main love,
watercolour, with which she feels a natural affinity and which
allows her the freedom to adequately express the themes inherent in
her work - emotion, movement, beauty. Isobel's paintings are
unusual in style and implementation... she has developed a
technique of working with the water, the pigment and the paper, which
produces a flow and spontaneity essential to the feelings she wishes to
express.
"Part
of the fulfillment I experience from my work, is knowing that others
may recognize and relate to what I try to express. When
that happens, it's very rewarding."
Drawing subjects both from her imagination
and from real life, Isobel begins a painting with a minimal sketch on heavy, rough
watercolour paper. She then soaks the sheet and,
working wet-on-wet, applies the initial colours, using a
one-inch flat brush loaded with pigment. She adopts the paper
as her palette, letting the colours blend and flow into each other
as she works. She then glazes one colour on top of
another and, when the paint is dry, she
applies black gouache in certain areas, which creates a vivid
contrast between the opacity of the black and the translucency of
the colour and also helps to shape the image. Towards the completion of a painting, a touch of soft
pastel and/or a little gold leaf may be added, providing an interesting
textural interplay.
"I enjoy a direct connection with
my chosen medium... watercolour can be both powerful and
delicate, opaque and translucent, promoting the expression of dark
and light within one tableau."
From 1995 to the present, Isobel's art has been showcased in
one-woman shows and group exhibits in museums and galleries
throughout California. Her paintings are in private collections
across the United States and in England, France, Spain, and Chile;
new works are currently available for viewing at her studio or on
her web site. |
