Louise Burston offers Chichester exhibition on West Sussex return

“As starting points for paintings I work from an archive of images I have collected over the years, such as newspaper cuttings, old photographs, scenes from films and TV and postcards,” Louise explains.

“Postcards as objects are imbued with a sense of childhood innocence and nostalgia, part of a ritual that has now virtually disappeared. They are interesting as documents of social history; the faded melancholy of seaside towns and the vestiges of civic pride, their exaggerated colours and recurring motifs of ponds, paths, fences and geometric flower beds. I often collage the postcards together, draw into them with posca pens and work from the resulting images to create an unsettling juxtaposition – silent half-remembered landscapes that evoke the passage of time.

“I like to work in oils on board or canvas, usually on a relatively small scale although not always, depending on the subject matter. I spend a long time mixing colours before I start a painting as I am interested in creating a specific atmosphere through close tonal colour, shape and light. I hope that my paintings will enable the viewer to reflect on the passing of time and where we find ourselves in the present – the fragility and finiteness of everything.

Louise added: “In the early 1990s I studied painting for several years at Herringbroom Studio in West Sussex, where I was taught rigorous colour mixing, tone, composition and how to use different types of media. I then went on to gain a first class BA hons in fine art at the University of Chichester, but mainly working with film and video. Whilst living in Chichester I was instrumental in setting up the Artel group of artists in the 1990s.

“In 2004 I obtained an MA in fine art at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol, after which I took up a lecturing post in contextual studies (art and design) at Swansea Metropolitan University where I taught for ten years.”