Lucia Smith is a landscape painter based in Ilkley, where she has lived for over forty years; she grew up here as a child and returned after 12 years away, loving living near the moors once again. She says they enhance her life, and feels very lucky to live here.
In the 1980s she chose short-courses of art tuition over a college course, identifying specific techniques, choosing influences and enjoying the freedom of experimentation. She eventually studied with soft pastel portrait artist Janet Hayes in Melbourne, Australia. She describes this as a pivotal time for her and since then Lucia has worked predominantly with soft pastel, although often using other media for underpainting.
Image: from artist’s website (see below)
Her ‘thinking’ time is often whilst walking on the moors of the Yorkshire Dales, and her love of these special places is what inspires her to paint. She explains:
‘The moors and valleys have a timelessness, a hugeness, a reassuring solidity. Time spent walking here seems to rebalance and rejuvenate; it is the only place I know where I can be simultaneously soothed and uplifted.’
Image: see artist’s website, below
A few years ago Lucia set out to explore and paint all the named Dales of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, an epic quest that pushed her to discover the lesser known Dales: Arndale in the east; Uldale and Whitsundale in the west; as well as finding hidden Dales, such as the curiously-named Apedale; and Mossdale, which only connects with the River Wharfe underground. Images of all 49 Dales are now available as fine art mini-prints and can be viewed on her website, see below.
Image: from artist’s website (see below)
Image: from artist’s website (see below)
Image: from artist’s website (see below)
Lucia’s aim, wherever she paints, she explains, is to distil the essence of a location, choosing light and shadow to pin down the feeling of being there:
‘Although the result is a static painting, I work hard to offer movement in a scene. Hard and soft edges of colour suggest that the wind is blowing, the clouds and shadows are about to move, and the view holds our gaze as we wait for the scene to entertain us.
In this crazy, busy, complicated, often exhausting world, the Dales and the Moors are a place to be, a place to look, a place to breathe. I hope to share a taste of this, available to view in a painting on a wall.’
Image: from artist’s website (see below)
Image: from artist’s website (see below)
Artist’s Website: Lucia Smith
Facebook : Lucia Smith Artist
Instagram: lucia_smith_artist