Amber Ramone BA (Hons) Fine Art 2020

The process of making is what excites me, dancing the paintbrush across the canvas and solving compositional problems along the way. Each painting has its own complicated journey amid the countless layers of paint.  Painting is a way for me to communicate and reflect upon my ideas which confront or enthuse my mind.

My work descends from photographs I took at the Wythenshawe Park Greenhouses, which I remember visiting with my mother when I was a child. However, when I revisited them, I had a different feeling towards them as to what I felt as a child. I was looking at plants which I have seen in exotic countries, but they were in the confined space of the small greenhouse, with the sound of the rain hitting the windowpanes above them. The plants felt so out of place, almost alien. Often inspired by nature, I was eager to create work from these ideas.

I am fascinated by colour and use various combinations to create tension on the canvas to communicate the displacement. Pink backgrounds represent the tropical heritage of the plants, which erupt into the foreground around the edges of the layered blue, green and mint coloured paint. The pink almost looks luminous against the cool tones, implying the alien nature of these exotic plants trapped beneath the grey Manchester clouds.

The thickness of paint varies across the canvas, with watery veils and drips suggesting the humid conditions of the greenhouse, and leaves sculpted with thick acrylic paint which brings them to life.

My interest in installation art, particularly the work of Olafur Eliasson, urged me to increase the size of my paintings. The large scale of my work allows my brushstrokes to be bold and energetic. They challenge each other, moving in various directions across the surface.