Artist Statement

Judy's paintings have two main threads: the first being landscapes with special emotional ties and the second being somewhat zany still lives/domestic interiors.
She has a life-long love of colour and texture and uses gouache for its vibrancy, often combined with oil pastel for texture.
Above all she is inspired by the Peak District and also the seascapes of the Isle of Man and explores these special places to absorb their colours and shapes. She rarely works directly from life because she prefers to rely on memories and imagination in her final compositions. Judy tries to capture movement, for example of clouds and their earthly shadows. "If there is no movement in a painting then it is just dead paint".
In contrast to her landscapes, Judy's still lives are deliberately one dimensional and static with unusual juxtapositions, for example elephants guarding a teapot. They are perhaps a statement of how everyday objects matter to us because of the memories they hold and their familiar tactile security. For example, that breadboard dates back to my childhood, that glass vase was a treasured gift from a departed friend. She is influenced here by the still lives of Mary Fadden for their profound simplicity.