Biography
Lucy has been a professional portrait painter and artist for over 20 years, working from her studio in Gloucestershire, and taking commissions from across the UK, Europe and internationally. She spent her childhood in rural Worcestershire before studying at Chelsea College of Art. At this point she explored another passion and read English Literature at University College London. In doing so, Lucy realised what she had been missing and moved back to the country to start painting again, soon receiving her first commission that began her career. It is due to the combination of these two disciplines, art and literature, that her work is so concerned with the narrative of her subject.
Lucy’s portraiture is tender, intimate and exhibits an affection for her subject that adds a quiet warmth and stillness. Working from life and from photographs, her images convey an essential likeness of her sitter, whilst also revealing their inner life.
Her landscapes contain dilapidated caravans and decaying barns which challenge our understanding of emptiness and abandonment; they remind us that absence can be beautiful. These devastated structures are transformed by her hand into delicate and meaningful forms.
Lucy works predominantly in oils and pencil. Her surfaces are as smooth as possible in order to get the fine detail she requires, without the interference of weave or grain. She prepares the boards on which she paints herself; painstakingly sanding each layer of gesso to achieve the perfect finish. Lucy’s paintings are then built up over more, fine layers of paint, each needing time to dry before the next in order to elicit the maximum depth and substance.