Lucy Innes Williams

Artist STATEMENT​

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Lucy’s paintings are rooted deeply in her own personal associations to nature. Lucy works through a combination of sketches from life, carefully constructed compositions, and entirely unseasonal flora. Why shouldn’t a daisy appear next to a hellebore after all? Traditional botanical illustration this isn’t. The presence of the human hand is key to Lucy’s paintings, and it this expression and joy in painting which informs her work.

 

The more blousy a flower is, the more Lucy is moved to paint it. The moment of explosion of petals, colour and scent are the real sweet spots. Coastal path walks along the cliffs of west Cornwall are a primary source of inspiration, second only to the busy borders of English country gardens. The drama of a suggested line on a coloured ground encourages a freeness to her paintings and explains a leaning towards wildflowers over manicured arrangements.

 

To Lucy the edge of the board or paper captures or frames an activity or composition in motion- there is always more happening off the page, and this is demonstrated in the placements of activity around the edge of her paintings.

 

Lucy intends paintings to feel like a snapshot of motion. She will often paint a single scene across multiple boards or papers specifically to reinforce that tension. These works aren’t required to be hung together, but are used as a tool to free the hand and allow it to run across a broader space, creating a different compositional energy and intrigue in the incidental cropping.

 

Lucy works primarily in gouache and inks on paper and board. The choice of surface is a key part of her practice and is designed specifically to capture the play between suspension and animation of paint that water on smooth surfaces brings about. Flowers are observed on walks, or collated from old reference guides and the occasional bouquet from local florists.

 

Colour choice is central to all Lucy’s paintings and palettes are regularly chosen before the subject matter. These early decisions are as important a tool as the subject to drive the mood and tone of the finished work. A mixture of representational and imagined palettes are driven by mood and composition. Half remembered feelings of petal, stem, spike and softness are all danced across the page with her paintbrush.

 

Framing is an important decision in Lucy’s paintings and is connected directly to the mood of the piece. Expressed through colours complementary to the colours of the florals present, each frame is chosen carefully.

 

Lucy’s paintings attract people who love florals, colour and a joyous expression of paint and line.

 

Lucy graduated in 2007 with a BA (Hons) Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College of Art. After a decade-long career working in exhibitions and artist management for a number of public and private art collections, she has returned to painting full-time. Alongside this, Lucy has developed an established commercial licensing and printed product business using textile-led floral designs adapted from artworks. As of September 2022, this will be known as Floradore.

 

Paintings range in price from £200 - £1000 and are offered framed and unframed.

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EDUCATION

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2007  BA(Hons) Fine Art, Central Saint Martins College of Art

2004  Foundation Diploma, Chelsea College of Art

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EXHIBITIONS & EvenTS

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July 2024 - Homes & Gardens, Byre Gallery, Cornwall

May 2024 - Artist Residency, Plotting Shed with Rebecca McDonald, Potager Gardens, Cornwall 

May 2024 - Open Studios Cornwall

March - April 2024 The Nursery at Trebah Gardens, Cornwall

September 2023 Form Falmouth

April - May 2023 'Up The Garden Path' Byre Gallery, Cornwall.

2022  Form Falmouth, curated by Morgans Falmouth and Inspire Makers

2021 Wood Lane Dairy, curated by Kitty Hillier.

2019 Huddle, Falmouth.

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