abbie smith

abbieartandpaint.co.uk

My practice has been a continual exploration of the concept of landscape. My hometown, the Forest of Dean, is a significant place that features throughout my work. I collect and record my subject matter through methods of psychogeography, an important process as this allows me to really connect with the place. I work mainly as a painter but explore the idea of extended painting with soft sculptural forms. I like to think of each work holding their own unique character. They play between the balance of sweet and unsettling, drawing from a naturalistic subject matter, but with an abstraction of reality. Challenging the rules of perception constructs a state of confusion for the viewer about the place depicted. The work explores themes of childhood imagination, perception, depiction of nature and alternate realities.