I have been working on a new collection lately,  with an idea in mind that I wanted to be incredibly specific with…

Without giving too much away,  I wanted to write about some of my influences in terms of colour and composition for my latest collection that I am currently working on with an insight into my favourite artists and images that have always inspired me. (Almost like a mood board of certain traits and aspects for this upcoming series of oil paintings.)

Starting with colour and my favourite artist Odilon Redon – I learnt of Redon whilst working on a project at college where I imitated some of his works in oil pastels, his abstract tendencies and backgrounds specifically have been one of the most consistant inspirations for my work and hugely in mind when painting recently. I studied his cleverly positioned colour and admired how they looked so spontaneous. It wasn’t until learning this practice in oil paints and in my own style that I found that using a lot of colour all at once in such an abstract way is incredibly difficult. To not be left with a muddy brown finish takes a lot of consideration with each brush stroke. Early on in my art career a well seasoned tattooist told me I had an ‘eye for colour much older than my years.’  This and my thought process, plus continued interest in using colour, derives souly from my Odilon Redon project when I was 16.

Claude Monet – I have been studying Monet’s water lilies, his best known and most famous subject throughout his career.  For me there are two qualities that I take from Monet’s work as the original impressionst and master of harmony. First is of course the colour, the rich pigments that as a whole show a soft atmosphere. (Specifically the blues and purples.) And Secondly are the tactile brush strokes that marked his presence and lead the way in this movement towards a more fluid and loose style of painting. In all of my paintings I want to see my brush strokes in a blatant, direct and obstinate manner, showing exactly where the artist has been and what it contributes by being there. The idea of such purposeful marks and leaving them so raw and exposed is a notion I carry through my work and very ardently in the current collection I am working on.

Another strong influence for my work has been old religious oil paintings. – There is a quality about religious paintings that have always completely entranced me, their meanings on a spiritual level have little to do with our generation and beliefs but that doesn’t mean they can’t be admired by everyone. For me the aesthetics are what I obsess over. The compositional qualities are always calculate of The Golden Ratio, which shows that universally, and in both nature and art, create a sound and visually pleasing quality that rests on harmony of detail and space. There is almost a vacantness about the subjects, but a beautiful and divine one at that. Where beautiful faces are surrounded by vasts of titian hair and splay willowy arms towards the heavens, draped in heavy materials surrounded by angels and clouds. Even scenes of battle and death are brought about with a sense of elegance and peace. It is these aesthetics that I have leaned towards in consideration for my newest collection. Although not to be dismissed is that amongst these beautiful paintings are centuries of iconic ideals and heavy symbolism in every aspect of the piece. (Composition, colour, subjects.)

Oxymoronically, the last of my major influences for my recent works are images from the universe, more specifically Nebulas. (A cloud of gas or dust in outer space.) – I have used a lot of colour through my artworks in a way that makes something ordinary look slightly out of place. I throw it around to create huge bursts of abstraction that brightens up my day to create, and also looks distinctively unusual. But when you consider an image of The Peony Nebula you see something that is so abstract and colourful yet completely natural to our universe. It makes my brain spiral into the abyss just thinking of this kind of scale and the enormity of something of such colourful grandeur that is so far away but is also so similar to a an image of our delicate iris under a microscope.

To follow my work and painting progress find me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – @katyjadedobson

Also find my last body of work, The Spectrum Collection at my website www.katyjadedobson.co.uk which also lists affiliated galleries that may stock the Limited Edition’s of this collection! Be sure to take a look!