"I see, I hear, I feel ... I paint..."
My paintings have always expressed my reactions to time and place and more recently flowers in my garden. I'm often inspired by hills, lochs and bleak skies and, more importantly the air, atmosphere and sounds around me. I make sketches but mainly work in the studio, which I love. I'm also aware that the music I choose to listen to in the studio enters the work. And this is a conscious choice.
As far as landscape painting goes, I think my instinct comes from Scotland. I was born in Glasgow and spent childhood family time at Inchmurrin Island on Loch Lomond, the Mull of Kintyre, St Andrews and Arran. I think these memories of a certain landscape are embedded in a person. At the time, with my family, I wasn't very interested in the landscape, but mum would take me out, sketchbooks in hand, to draw and paint on the shores of Loch Lomond. She adored the work of Van Gogh and Monet and frequently took me to galleries, museums and churches where we made brass rubbings and discussed art and history. Really though, I was obsessed with music as my means of self-expression. Both my dad and grandfather were architects. I remember as a five-year old being fascinated by dad's designs, watercolour paintings and by the implements and tools on his drawing board. He introduced me to the paintings of Charles Rennie MacIntosh and the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Dad sang and played guitar. Ours was a musical family and from the age of eight I was improvising on piano and 'jamming' with Dad on guitar. So music was a big thing for me and that's what I did for quite a while. Until the art took over.
Actually, I think my parents are the real reason I began to paint - they died within a few years of each other when I was in my 30s. I feel that I rediscover them in the creative process, a connection through nothing but my imagination. And I also rediscover through the gestural mark that lovely, expressive note on the piano. At least that's how I see it now. I knew I would paint. I was waiting. And in my 40s, I began in earnest, moving from music to paint.
The florals came about because of a need in me to just look at something colourful and beautiful, because I was in such turmoil about my dear son's mental illness. So the flowers came into my studio and I looked and drew and painted. I'd always tried to paint flowers but never found a way in until 2020 during the lockdowns when I was restricted. So from 2020 until 2023 the flowers came about.
I would describe myself as a Romantic painter - as in the Romantic poets - my responses to what I see, hear and feel are more an emotional one where I'm aiming for Wordsworth's 'spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings'. This is about as close as I can get to describing it. And what I hope to convey to my viewer.
Lesley Birch 2024
As far as landscape painting goes, I think my instinct comes from Scotland. I was born in Glasgow and spent childhood family time at Inchmurrin Island on Loch Lomond, the Mull of Kintyre, St Andrews and Arran. I think these memories of a certain landscape are embedded in a person. At the time, with my family, I wasn't very interested in the landscape, but mum would take me out, sketchbooks in hand, to draw and paint on the shores of Loch Lomond. She adored the work of Van Gogh and Monet and frequently took me to galleries, museums and churches where we made brass rubbings and discussed art and history. Really though, I was obsessed with music as my means of self-expression. Both my dad and grandfather were architects. I remember as a five-year old being fascinated by dad's designs, watercolour paintings and by the implements and tools on his drawing board. He introduced me to the paintings of Charles Rennie MacIntosh and the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Dad sang and played guitar. Ours was a musical family and from the age of eight I was improvising on piano and 'jamming' with Dad on guitar. So music was a big thing for me and that's what I did for quite a while. Until the art took over.
Actually, I think my parents are the real reason I began to paint - they died within a few years of each other when I was in my 30s. I feel that I rediscover them in the creative process, a connection through nothing but my imagination. And I also rediscover through the gestural mark that lovely, expressive note on the piano. At least that's how I see it now. I knew I would paint. I was waiting. And in my 40s, I began in earnest, moving from music to paint.
The florals came about because of a need in me to just look at something colourful and beautiful, because I was in such turmoil about my dear son's mental illness. So the flowers came into my studio and I looked and drew and painted. I'd always tried to paint flowers but never found a way in until 2020 during the lockdowns when I was restricted. So from 2020 until 2023 the flowers came about.
I would describe myself as a Romantic painter - as in the Romantic poets - my responses to what I see, hear and feel are more an emotional one where I'm aiming for Wordsworth's 'spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings'. This is about as close as I can get to describing it. And what I hope to convey to my viewer.
Lesley Birch 2024
Fading Flowers, Blue Pot -
