Lucy Innes Williams

Artist STATEMENT​

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The presence of the hand is so important in all my work. Brushstrokes and movement are obvious, expressive and playful, drawing the viewer into the detail. The point of my painting isn’t to directly represent what I see but to celebrate the joyful colour, shapes and texture of flora and their landscapes.

 

Careful balance along with a very real need to express emotion directly onto the surface are all intentional elements of my work. Re-creating flowers and bouquets at scale in a textile or pattern-driven context is what moves me.

 

I carefully choose the surfaces on which I paint and draw and this covers paper, wood and board. The choice of surface is a key part of my practice and is designed specifically to capture the unpredictable nature of paint. I want to show exactly how the paint dried, and show the alchemy of this suspension. The challenge for me is then adding the structure and detail to the under layers of wash and abstract shapes. For this I typically use oil pastel, pencil and ink.

 

I work from a combination of sketches from life and carefully constructed collage-like compositions of entirely unseasonal, blousy flora. Flowers are observed on walks, or collated from old reference guides with the occasional bouquet from local florists. I look for a balance of scale and detail, drawing-in the flower or plant with the correct feel for the painting rather than reality. The traditional structures of an English country garden give me a reference point and a tasteful choreography to break free from.

 

Choosing of a colour palette always takes place before the painting begins. Six to seven colours give a sense of cohesion and parameters in which to balance and place floral objects and tones. Reality is not important to me, imagination is so much more interesting! I ask the viewer to embrace a fictitious, dream-like world where flowers can be any colour, petals never wilt and an energy exists, bursting from each petal.

 

When painting onto laser-cut wood, the process is cyclical and considered, and draws directly from my previous paintings. Each wooden shape is traced from an original painting and laser-cut locally in Cornwall. There is a story behind the shape, a kind of muscle-memory and a series of choices I make in filling and then painting back-in the details of the florals.

 

I am interested in the effect of isolation and suspension that a traditional still life is given by painting the bouquet and then framing this inside its own box frame.

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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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May - June 2025 - Summer Exhibition, Magpie Contemporary Art, Farnham, Surrey

December 2024 - Small But Perfectly Formed, Byre Gallery, Cornwall

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

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