Elizabeth Smith PPRSMA

Most of Elizabeth's work is in pastel and because of this she works mainly in the studio. Landscape and marine subjects are completed from sketches and reference photographs done at the scene; my still-life pictures are undertaken entirely in the studio. Elizabeth seeks inspiration from the landscape all around the country and am never disappointed. However, she is happy to return to favourite spots time after time as she knows that the changes in season, weather conditions or time of day will ensure that the resulting pictures are always very different. My aim is often to simplify the scene, using strong composition and carefully controlled tone and colour, in the hope of capturing something of both the unique quality of the subject on that particular day and the timelessness of the landscape. Elizabeth's still-life work allows me to change her focus; instead of looking at the overall view, she is concentrating intently on a small area, observing the subtleties of colour and tone and working out how the subject relates to the background. There is often beauty in the most ordinary of things and it is these everyday objects that frequently become the subject matter for a painting.