CHRISTINE BASS

Christine paints contemporary landscapes, characterised by strong lines and shapes, flattened planes and the use of saturated colour.  She grew up in Trinidad and the bright light and vivid colours of the tropics still exert an influence in her paintings.

Most of Christine's paintings are inspired by the landscapes of the Ridgeway and the Chilterns in Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. She is especially interested in landscapes where the natural lie of the land is accentuated by man-made interventions such as tracks, farmed fields & hedgerows, planted woodland & reservoirs.

In her mixed media work, she begins by drawing the composition onto board or canvas.  Next, she uses tissue to loosely block in areas of colour, relishing the unexpected shapes which emerge from torn edges and overlapping layers.  The tissue is glued to the board or canvas.  The drawn composition is important to her; when it begins to disappear beneath the layers of tissue, she re-draws it.  She then paints in acrylics onto the collage base, focusing on the original drawing but also incorporating many of the shapes which originate from the tissue layer.  Her aim is a synthesis between the drawing and the more abstract collage, with the painted layer bringing the two together.

Her background is in illustration and design (First Class BA Hons Degree, Manchester, 1982). Most of her illustrations feature in publications for environment and development organisations (such as IUCN in Geneva and IIED in London).

To see more of Christine's work, please visit
www.christinebassart.com
www.instagram.com/christinebass.art

To contact Christine, please email her at
christinebass.art@gmail.com