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Lisa Cooper artist Cornwall Lisa Cooper artist Cornwall Lisa Cooper artist Cornwall Lisa Cooper artist Cornwall Lisa Cooper artist Cornwall Lisa Cooper artist Cornwall Lisa Cooper artist Cornwall Lisa Cooper artist Cornwall Lisa Cooper artist Cornwall
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I find the Cornish landscape endlessly inspiring, in particular its fishing villages and coves, and the sea on a stormy day. I am never happier than tramping the coast path, in fair weather or foul, watching the shifting interplay of sea and sky. And a love of gardening stimulates a parallel interest in painting plants and flowers, with my garden a continuous source of inspiration. Although I enjoy working with oils and acrylics, it is watercolour that continually calls me back. I love the immediacy and freedom that the medium allows, and the serendipity of unforeseen movement and colour blending. And combining watercolour with other media, such as oil pastel, ink or acrylic opens up a host more opportunities for experimentation. Forthcoming exhibitions 2019 The Camelford Gallery Permanent collection Rock Institute 11-17 July 2019 Tintagel Old School Hall 27 July - 31 August 2019 Bude Castle 3-23 August 2019 |
Lisa Cooper
I have always loved drawing and painting, and as a child would spend hours shut away in my room with a pad of paper and a set of coloured pens. I was unfortunate in having a thoroughly uninspiring Art department at my secondary school, where I was forced to make exacting pencil drawings of still life objects, while experimenting with colour and texture at home.
Freed from the strait jacket of the graphite pencil, I went on to Norwich School of Art, where I threw myself into large-scale paintings and collages and developed a particular interest in textiles. While I loved the freedom of Art School, I found it difficult to maintain my creativity for five whole days a week and realised that I missed academic study.
This was the era of Glasnost, and I became fascinated by all things Russian, in particular the country’s roller coaster of history and my own Russian heritage. Having completed my Art Foundation Course, I switched to a Russian degree at the University of Edinburgh. Bar a few life-drawing classes to ‘keep my hand in’, art stayed on the back burner for the next 15 years while I studied, travelled and subsequently settled in London to work as a journalist.
It wasn’t until I moved to Cornwall in 2003 that I returned to painting, inspired by the Cornish landscape, which drew me towards watercolour in particular, a medium that I had only lightly dabbled in before. Those early paintings were tight and controlled, but as my confidence developed, I was able to ‘let go’, enjoying the serendipity of watercolour, allowing the paint to move and blend in often unanticipated ways. I am happiest expressing myself in a fast, loose style that sometimes veers towards abstraction and captures the immediacy and movement of my surroundings.
Freed from the strait jacket of the graphite pencil, I went on to Norwich School of Art, where I threw myself into large-scale paintings and collages and developed a particular interest in textiles. While I loved the freedom of Art School, I found it difficult to maintain my creativity for five whole days a week and realised that I missed academic study.
This was the era of Glasnost, and I became fascinated by all things Russian, in particular the country’s roller coaster of history and my own Russian heritage. Having completed my Art Foundation Course, I switched to a Russian degree at the University of Edinburgh. Bar a few life-drawing classes to ‘keep my hand in’, art stayed on the back burner for the next 15 years while I studied, travelled and subsequently settled in London to work as a journalist.
It wasn’t until I moved to Cornwall in 2003 that I returned to painting, inspired by the Cornish landscape, which drew me towards watercolour in particular, a medium that I had only lightly dabbled in before. Those early paintings were tight and controlled, but as my confidence developed, I was able to ‘let go’, enjoying the serendipity of watercolour, allowing the paint to move and blend in often unanticipated ways. I am happiest expressing myself in a fast, loose style that sometimes veers towards abstraction and captures the immediacy and movement of my surroundings.
