David Hockney is one of my all time favourite artists, his use of colour is amazing and seeing his work for REAL in a gallery is immense. The paintings are so big you can get lost in them. I did a homage to Hockney painting when I was pregnant with my first daughter and it holds lovely memories for me. It kept me calm and focused towards the end of the pregnancy. The painting shows a path going into the future through a forest. Leaves falling and blowing in the breeze. It is on the wall in our living room and Flora calls it her painting! Which quite rightly it is!
Sandra Silberzweig a contemporary Canadian artist, I only came across her in the last 5 years or so. She has a great style that has elements of inspiration taken from Picasso and African masks.This artist is great for working with both children and adults and I have had some excellent workshops using her as the influence. The painting below is a painting I made for my second daughter. I wanted to paint her one during my pregnancy but there was just no time! In it you can see she is no longer a baby and our whole family are in it!
watercolour, acrylic and marker pens on canvas 2016 Emma Lang
Henri Matisse as a painter I came upon at school (I think I was 15), we had to do a still life, choosing an artist to study the style of. My teacher Rene Martin had a full to the brim filing cabinet with examples of different artists. I was drawn to his painting ‘Dishes and Fruit’. I remember being so proud of my copy of his painting, I think Rene bought it off me to keep as an example. She was known to do this with some work we did during GCSE and A levels. This style influences my work today.
Matisse and his paper cuttings I encountered much later. During the first phase of lockdown I decided to plop Matisse style paper cuttings all over my walls and they are still there and I love them flapping around and serve as an excellent backdrop for my Zoom art classes!
Antoni Gaudi, I was introduced to during my A levels at school. We needed to find an artistic period or artist to base our dissertation on. My teacher suggested Gaudi would appeal to me and as Salvador Dali was my favourite artist back then I combined both artists/architects in the paper. Dali was at the time having an exhibition inside one of Gaudi’s buildings so it went together ideally. My art teacher encouraged us to visit the paintings or buildings in real wherever possible. My mum realising how into it I was took us to Barcelona for 5 days in August 1996. It was to be my last holiday with my mum as she died 3 weeks later,, the trip holds precious memories for me. I love all the playfulness of Gaudi, the bright imagination and use of flora and fauna in everything he touches. I remember searching for the Casa Battlo on a stinking hot day and stopping for a cold drink on the street to cool down. Looking up we realised we had sat right in front of the building we were searching for! It looked beautiful with the purple dragon like skin covering the building and the scale like roof and tail.
Visiting the infamous still not completed Sagrada Familia was a treat. I will never forget stepping out of the underground and saying well where is it then? Only to turn and come right smack up to it. It was quite breath taking. I would love to visit again and show my children.
Park Guell it was and still is one of my favourites of his architectural works, his fantastical mosaics, the smooth cooling ceiling mosaics and the curving seating basking in the sun, and the mosaic animals spotted around the place.
Dali who was a big favourite back in 1996 pales in my memory to Gaudi.