KATHARINE LE HARDY
The Cornish coast is the starting point for my landscapes which are only loosely based on definate locations. Working from sketches and photographs, I endeavour to create a window on an imaginary coastal space. The abscence of obvious landmarks and identifiable features enables the images to exist as timeless dreamlike expanses where sea meets land, inviting the viewer into a restorative space and opportunity for reflection in calm solitude.
Even though the beach usually constitutes the largest area in my paintings, I consider them more as seascapes than landscapes, as the central apsect to all of my images is the action and nature of the sea: both as a symbol for the passage of time and agent of change, and also as an icon for tranquility and emotional depth, all of which is resonant with the ebb and flow of everyday human life. In a way, my painting process mimics the sea in this respect - I like to use gestural marks and loose brushwork to engage the viewer and charge the compostion with movement and dynamism, whilst still maintaining balance, building up the paint and alternating transaprent and opaque layers, dripping, washing, splashing, allowing it to take its own fluid course and give the image a life of its own.
The Artist's Statement, 2009
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