Mavis Penney
Artist’s Statement.

“I make images that recreate my experiences.”

I like to work in a variety of media; out-of-doors I draw with a sketchpad and pencil, a block of watercolour paper and a set of portable paints. I use both still photography and video to record details and impressions of landscape features. On the computer, I digitize my sketches with a scanner and manipulate the image digitally for output to the screen or paper. In the studio, I make finished watercolour and acrylic paintings or large coloured pencil drawings based on my sketches and composites.

For me, painting is not just about an artist creating an image. Painting is about the artist guiding the viewer in looking and observing, about the viewer learning to see and interpreting the artist’s imagery into an individual and unique vision. Painting is about the pleasure, the great excitement and the profound feeling of being absorbed in the work of an artist. Artistic skill and technique are required but must be transparent in this process. The medium the artist uses is not important, since a quick pencil sketch can communicate as powerfully as a fresco mural. What is truly significant in painting is the artist’s ability to create an environment in which the viewer’s sensitivities can develop and grow.

Landscape is the core of my work. I use the colours, the textures, and the shapes that I have seen around me to recall my feelings of being a part of the land, so those feelings can be experienced again.