(low resolution image taken on phone camera)
This beautiful painting is by Janet Branscombe.
I love paint. I love its texture and its smell and its strange power. And you get some gorgeous paint with this canvas. But I have to confess that it caused me a bit of a struggle. The vibrant colours and the tactile nature of the paint were immediately attractive. The white space was as refreshing as when you find it on a page of text – as eloquent as any of the other space.
But it was the lines. I had seen some of Janet’s figurative work – closely observed, with expressive and confident use of line – and that didn’t seem to be what I was seeing here. It unsettled me. At first the lines seemed tentative, a little uncertain.
I’ve written elsewhere on Loving Art about the benefits of talking with artists. Janet speaks with obvious passion about the act of seeing: about how our vision is led from one field to another, one movement to another. She talked with me about how she wanted to express that following of our attention in her work. The lines not only represent that movement; they function as route markers too.
We’ve said before how the best art puts us in mind of experience and presence, and does it in ways that words could never express. That is what we have here.
Not everyone will have my earlier struggle. Having worked through it, I was able to embrace this whole canvas as a joyful, dynamic work which does indeed take you on a journey. We have an artwork here which gives obvious pleasure, and reveals even more over time.
Get to see more of Janet’s work if you can.
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