Alison Critchlow is an abstract landscape painter based in Cumbria, UK. She has two big bodies of work underway currently which are unfolding at different timescales. The first is the ‘Swarm Series’, painted in intense periods and then left face-to-the-wall for several weeks or months before the next wave of painting. The second is a slower, considered enquiry into landscape painting, focused on place, perception and memory. You can hear more about her day to day painting process in a recent interview with Tom Speight for ‘Behind The Scenery’ podcast here https://cacn.co.uk/portfolio/episode-26/
The Studio
My studio is beside the Solway Firth, which I love. I spend a lot of time outside, drawing, noticing, taking snaps on my phone and scribbling down notes in sketchbooks. This is a vital part of my practice. I think of it as stage one in a process. In the studio I take a more abstract approach, working on several paintings at a time, employing all sorts of techniques and materials. The studio is a beautiful light bright space with an area for storing finished work out of the ‘splash zone’. I often work on the floor, pouring and dripping paint which then needs to dry flat and so it is practical to move between several paintings. I think of them as conversing with each other, and sometimes I deliberately work in series to explore an idea through several works – which inform each other and set up a sort of internal dialogue in my head. You can read more about my process in my blogposts here.
Some paintings are built up very slowly in layers, others will emerge quickly. I like to vary the pace, scale and rhythm of the work – finding the perfect speed and weight of marks and colours to capture the essence of my subject. I am fascinated by this ‘language of paint’- the way smudges and thick clumps of pigment sit next to transparent pools of oil is an endless fascination.
My studio is not normally open to the public except for once a year (normally the last two weekends in September) when I host an open studio event and then I welcome visitors to come and look around.