Lucy Marks

With an experimental approach to oil mediums and mark making, this vibrant artist wants to share her love of the landscape through paint, as AMANDA HODGES reveals

- Amanda Hodges

Lucy Marks’ upcoming exhibition at the Piers Feetham Gallery will showcase this distinctive artist’s vibrant portfolio of work and her enthusiasm for the venture is evident. “It has been such an exciting and thrilling journey to get to this point.”

She describes herself as fundamentally a landscape painter who “walks a line pushing towards the abstract” and her canvases are distinguished by a sense of palpable movement and vibrant energy. “The joy of being a landscape painter – and one of the reasons I fall in love with painting the land and sea and sky so much – is that it is forever changing. You can go outside to the same spot day after day and it never looks the same.”

Her new collection features both watercolor and oil paintings and they vary in scale to reflect the South Downs landscape. Growing up in Sussex, her family were keen walkers and she has a clear affinity for the natural world. “Today all is so busy it’s hard to find time to connect back to the basics and just enjoy the fundamental land around us,” she says, something she’s redressing through her art.

One of the interesting facets of Lucy’s landscapes is that although each is characterized by depth and vitality, none is directly representational of any specific place; this is a deliberate strategy. “We all experience the world differently. In the same way no one person will ever experience the same landscape on the same day in the same way. So why get caught up with whether there was a house or dog in a particular spot? To me it seems unnecessary. Go for the essence of the place and mood. And allow the viewer to read into it what they want.”