About chrIstine

I paint contemporary landscapes characterised by strong lines and shapes, flattened planes and the use of saturated colour. I grew up in Trinidad and the bright light and vivid colours of the tropics still exert an influence in my paintings.

Most of my paintings are inspired by the landscapes of the Ridgeway and the Chilterns. For many years, I lived in a small Buckinghamshire village close to Ivinghoe Beacon at the eastern end of the Ridgeway. I drew and painted the chalk downland of that area and further afield within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

I now live in Wallingford, an Oxfordshire market town on the Thames and close to the Chilterns. New sources of inspiration include the Berkshire Downs from Wantage to Ashbury, the Chilterns from Swyncombe to Chinnor, and the River Thames from Dorchester to Wallingford.

Occasionally, I also paint still lifes. These almost always include flowers for their exuberant colours and organic shapes.

My paintings consist of several layers of acrylic paint on a collaged base. I begin by drawing the composition onto board before collaging the whole surface with tissue paper. The drawn composition is important to me; when it begins to disappear beneath the layers of tissue, I re-draw it. I then paint in acrylics onto that collage base, focusing on the original drawing but also incorporating many of the shapes that originate from the tissue layer. My aim is a synthesis between the drawing and the more abstract collage, with the painted layer bringing the two together.

In my earlier artistic career, I worked as an illustrator, producing black and white, pen and ink drawings. My first, very vibrant paintings were a change of direction and reflected a desire to work in colour. I still use strong colours in my landscape paintings but they tend to be more natural - greens and yellows, blues and greys, oranges and browns.

My background is in illustration and design (First Class BA Honours Degree, Manchester, 1982). Most of my illustrations featured in publications for environment and development organisations such as IUCN in Geneva and IIED in London.

In 1998, I won the Sunday Times/British Airways Competition to design a tailfin for BA as part of its ‘Global Images’ campaign. My artwork, inspired by British canal art and titled ‘Grand Union’, decorated BA tailfins and buses for several years.

In the autumn of 2019, my painting ‘Pulpit Wood’ won Second Prize in ‘The People’s Landscape’, an exhibition of landscape paintings organised by The Courtyard Art Studio and hosted by Claydon House, National Trust. In the spring of 2022, my painting ‘Ivinghoe Beacon from Steps Hill’ was judged Overall Winner in the Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize.

I am a member of the Oxford Art Society, Oxfordshire Art Weeks and the Visual Images Group (the organisers of Bucks Art Weeks).

For more information about availability and prices, or about upcoming exhibitions, or to arrange a studio visit, please email me.