Steff Hutchinson
MA in Photography, BA (Hons) in Fine Art, specialising in painting and photography
Artists' Statement
"My paintings and drawings are based on personal mythology and the literary world, showing mostly female characters juxtaposed with unusual settings. They tend to be of "human" dimensions - up to six feet in height, and up to four feet in width, though when working purely from life, I tend to work on a smaller scale. I work mainly in oils and chalk pastels.
"The paintings are often initially based on visual images that I find interesting, either photographs of my own or in the press, or fleeting glimpses of people in public places. I allow these images to work in my mind for a few months, gaining meaning as I gradually add complementary ideas, or alter the angles and lighting, in imagination only. The sketching and painting process itself takes less than a week.
"Many of the paintings seem to take on a narrative content - a few years ago I deliberately produced a series of paintings based on the women in Shakespeare's plays - since then, many people have seen such stories in my work, so I have named the paintings after the characters they have mentioned to me. However, the narrative has come from viewers of the paintings, not from me."
Cleo, oil on canvas, 5' x 3'6"
Cross, oil on canvas, 4' x 2'6"
Lady Macbeth, oil and acrylic on canvas, 4' x 3'
Ophelia, oil and acrylic on canvas, 6' x 3'6"
Portia, oil and acrylic on canvas, 5' x 5'
Viola, oil and acrylic on canvas, 5'6" x 3'6"
The Myth, oil and acrylic on canvas, 6' x 5'
Mary (Eve), acrylic on raw canvas, 6' x 3'6"
