Page 29 - Panter & Hall: Hannah Woodman: Cornwall: Coast & County

hannah woodman
Hannah was born in 1968 in Totnes, Devon. She studied
at Exeter College of Art and Design and the Courtauld
Institute of Art, London, before training to teach at the
London Institute of Education.
Having taught in schools and lectured museums and
galleries for six years she turned to painting full time.
Since then she has had a series of sell out one-woman
shows and her work is now held in private and public
collections both at home and abroad. A member of the
Newlyn Society of Artists, Hannah lives in Cornwall
where she works from her studio on the south coast.
Speaking about her work, Hannah tells us:
‘Concentrating on the amorphous nature
of the landscape and the seascape, I walk
the line between abstract and figurative
representations, while trying to capture
the effects of changing light and weather.
The paintings are worked up in layers and
I try to retain the spontaneity of paint gestures
while still allowing a sense of place to emerge.
Standing alone in front of the landscape is one
of my biggest joys and I hope to recreate that
sense of isolated engagement in these pictures.’
cat no.25 Evening of the studio to assess the picture (they do
artist’s statement
I enjoy the process of working in layers, build-
ing up a density of marks both deliberate and
spontaneous, constantly agitating the surface
of the picture–scraping, scratching, splattering,
palette knife-work. I start with a very basic
drawn outline of the scene then fill it in with
a dark wash, then begin to add layers of thicker
paint including areas of pure, bold, colour.
I leave these layers to dry off for a few days
before I come back and attack the painting
for real. This is the exciting stage and much
more physical. I literally paint over all the
previous work (sometimes whacking the
surface quite hard) then ‘rediscover’ it when
I wipe and scratch away at what I’ve done.
Patches of happy accidents occur where
a splodge or dribble of paint applied in haste
takes on a form that gels the scene together–
or not, and then I begin to get frustrated.
Some of my best pictures were created out
of a furious exasperation with not being able
to get the results I was after. There is obviously
an energy in anger that reproduces well on
the surface. I’ll stand way back at one end
need distance) then come up close to bash the
surface with the paint. This is one of the
reasons why at the moment I work on board
instead of canvas–it’s harder and more resili-
ent! Eventually the struggle dies out and the
work is hopefully finished.
Hannah Woodman