Artist information
Tara is an emerging artist living in Oxfordshire close the historical and inspiring White Horse at Uffington. Her studio is her sanctuary, a respite from the noise and bustle of everyday life.
She has always studied and made art, first at Shelly Park, Bournemouth then at the ex Hornsey School of Art in London. Her passion for creativity has lead to a long career as an art teacher and she loves helping others to find the joy of Art. A period of illness in 2020 and 2021 meant that she had to step back from the act of creating but her painting played an important role in her recuperation. After her illness her work has become very calm and peaceful, perhaps alluding to the joy she finds in being alive.
In the past year she has had work selected for the ING Discerning Eye prize and was also longlisted for the Women in Art prize 2024 . She is an active member of Oxfordshire Art Society and regularly opens her studio for Oxfordshire Artweeks and Swindon open Studios.
She has work in private collections across the UK, Europe and Africa.
Exhibition information
Painting with my hands and squeegees I create dreamy ethereal pieces that are reminiscent of landscapes I have seen or imagined. My lively gestural painting style enables me to convey an impression of a subject which is rooted in reality not bound by it. I create instinctively: colours and shapes flow with an energy of their own. I often rotate the canvas as I paint, so that the piece can have no fixed orientation, it is up to the viewer to choose. The marks made by my brush or my fingers form the shapes of abstracted land, sea and floral scapes. Its a process of play with colour, texture, layering, adding and wiping with my hands.
I am fascinated by the boundaries, borders and edges found in the landscape and my work often references this liminal space. The point between realism and abstraction, where shapes and marks create fleeting impressions of a subject. Misty morning and flooded fields capture my attention and the colours of autumn are never far from my palette.
I find most of my work is inspired by these natural elements. Layering paint and wiping sections away reveal the spaces as if mists are swirling, causing the landscape to appear and disappear. I mostly work wet on wet, colour mixing as I go, glazing to create subtle transparent layers. I am currently experimenting with oil paint and coldwax and loving the effects!
I love collecting words from poetry, prose and language that link to my work and often the titles link to the feeling on the piece.