JANE ASKEW

STATEMENT

My current paintings, produced for my recent Degree Show, were developed from photographs of the view from my suburban home, some of which were shot through sheer net curtains.  The view provides continuous inspiration since it has elements which are reminiscent of an archetypal Classical or Romantic landscape as depicted in Poussin and Lorrain’s paintings: majestic trees, a distant island and glimpses of the sea.   These picturesque elements are however juxtaposed with banal 1970s housing, thereby creating a sense of dissonance, which I find particularly interesting.  In some of my paintings, the landscape is also veiled, emphasising that the gaze is from the inside.
I have been inspired by the work of Peter Doig and the Swedish figurative painter Karin Mamma Andersson, both of whom are influenced by the Northern European tradition of Romantic landscape painting.  I have also been hugely influenced by Cezanne’s paintings and sketches of great pine trees in the Arc Valley, which I have referenced in two large scale paintings of the great pines visible from my home.  
Although my paintings are derived from photographs, I take liberties with the image, by heightening colour values and utilising painterly effects.  I also spend considerable time on the underpainting stage, often partially destroying the painting before applying layers of translucent oil glaze, rendering the paint in a way which is analogous with the veiling of the landscape. 

CURRICULUM VITAE

Born: Southampton, 1964.
1981 – 2004 working as Legal PA/Paralegal in London and the South East.
Lives and works in Fareham, Hampshire.

Email: jane@smallhouse.co.uk

Art Qualifications

Exhibitions