Newbury painter inspired by English country gardens
South African Tanya Reid in @newburytoday gallery
TANYA Reid is a painter mainly working in oils but sometimes watercolour and/ or mixed medium. “I also do a bit of ceramic work but painting is my favoured discipline,” says the Newbury artist who studied fine art at the Durban University of Technology in South Africa, majoring in art history and painting but also studied print making, textiles and ceramics as part of her degree.
The Dance of Foliage and Light
Tanya moved to Newbury with her British husband and three children in 2012. “I have lived in many different parts of the world and find I draw influences from all of them.”
As well as running her own practice, she is a sessional community Art and Craft lecturer at Newbury College and occasionally does workshops and small projects for arts organisations like the Corn Exchange. Most of her time, however, is spent in her studio with most of her work coming in the way of commissions. She has a small collection of work on display at Sofas & Stuff, Basingstoke, and is working on another collection to hopefully extend that to their showroom in Hungerford.
“I am hugely inspired by the Modernist Movement – in particular Monet, the Post Impressionists, German Expressionism and the Fauves. I would describe my work as Impressionistic in its overall feel with brush marks a bit more Expressionistic. My
application of colour is derived from what I see in nature with a hint of the Fauves use of exaggerated hues.
“I mainly paint landscapes, gardens, rivers and occasionally architecture and portraits. I love to paint reflections on water and the local Kennet and Avon rivers are constant sources of inspiration to me. Though I lived most of my life on the coast among a very tropical landscape, I have always been drawn to paint in the countryside and lush colourful overgrown English gardens.”
Tanya prefers to work on large canvases, as it allows for more spontaneity and the freedom and space to paint with large gestures and movements
“The process is very physical and it’s this process that lures me to painting – more so than the finished product. There is almost a frenzy of expression when I paint and I do so quite quickly – I don’t labour. I find, for this style of painting, labouring can just spoil that sense of spontaneity and the image can become quite stale.
“Having said that, I do sometimes finish a work quite quickly and then go back to it weeks later to add some finishing touches... or more often taking away some elements.
“For me art is all about emotional responses. I have an emotional connection to colour and sometimes will use almost the entire spectrum in one piece. Often I have to go back to a painting and tone that down a little. I have not yet mastered the art of less is more.”
Apart from being influenced by the Impressionists and the Fauves, she also finds inspiration from other forms of creativity.
“I find I am inspired by fashion designers, animators and photographers, as well as traditional artists. Some of my favourite contemporary creatives are Grayson Perry, Tim Walker, Baz Luhrman, Vivien Westwood, Alexandre Levasseure, Monica Roham, Tyler Mitchell, Matty Bovan, Alessandro Michele... the list is endless, but anyone whose work is expressive, colourful and a little wild, I aspire to learn from.”
See more of Tanya’s work on the @newburytoday online gallery https://bit.ly/3rPY4MM
While her webpage is under construction, Tanya can be contacted via her Instagram page tanyawettelandreid or Facebook page Tanya Reid Art.
TRISH LEE
TAKE a look at the newburytoday online gallery. If you are an artist or maker living in the West Berkshire, North Hampshire and East Wiltshire areas, whose livelihood is wholly or largely dependent on your creative
work, and wish to join the gallery, please send us your profile, tell us a little about your work, philosophy and techniques, together with eight examples of your work and we will print as many as we can over the coming weeks in the Newbury Weekly News, as well as adding you to the gallery. Email trish.lee@newburynews.co.uk
