Artist Interview: Kamaria Pryce

I'm a curious type; I like to know what informs an artist. Who or what do they look to for inspiration? How do they work? Each month I will be asking an artist I admire a few questions, this month is Kamaria Pryce.

Peace V, approx 20cm x 15cm, gouache on paper

Kam, since first discovering your work I was enchanted by your landscape paintings which have a calming and peaceful quality to them. What is it about recording the natural landscape that appeals to you? 

One of the reasons I love being out in nature, is that it evokes a sense of calm and quiet emotionally, mentally, and for me, spiritually. I think because the surroundings are so much bigger than me, it brings peace and belonging. When I paint, I try to capture that experience for the viewer and potential customer.

When I think of your paintings I often think of swishy blades of grass which you capture so beautifully, are small details important in your work? 

It's funny because I'm not naturally a very patient person, I like seeing results in a fairly quick timescale! In nature, there are so many details that I think oftentimes our natural eyes miss. I find when I'm painting landscapes, it forces me to slow down, be patient and take in as many of the details as I can. 

Strength, approx 25cm x 20cm, gouache on paper

The Waiting, approx 25cm x 20cm, gouache on paper

You work with a variety of mediums; pencil, oil pastel and gouache. Do you have a favourite medium to work with and is experimentation important to you? 

I think it's always good and important as a creative to stretch yourself outside of your comfort zone. Whether that's experimenting with different materials or creating different subject matters. It just helps you grow and not be stagnant in your gift. My favourite medium to use so far is gouache!

Are there other materials or ways of working that you’d like to try? 

I would absolutely love to try oil paints one day! 

Take us through a ‘day in the life’ - what does a typical day involve? 

At the moment I work 3 days a week when my youngest is at nursery and my eldest is at school. After I’ve done the school/nursery run I’ll get straight into painting either for a commission or a collection. I try to plan out what I’m going to paint beforehand so I can get the most out of the day! If I have admin to do, I’ll do that in the evenings after my girls have gone to bed. 

Peace IV, approx 25cm x 20cm, gouache on paper

Detail of Peace VII, approx 25cm x 20cm, gouache on paper

Did you study art or any creative subjects or are you completely self-taught? 

I haven’t had any formal art training, so I’ve been developing my skills through a lot of personal practice.

What artists (living or dead) inspire you?

I’ve discovered many artists on Instagram who inspire me for various reasons, some of them are: Claudia Lowry Art, Hannah Winters Art, Ronni Nicole and The Coastal Studio to name just a few!

The Lighthouse, approx 25cm x 20cm, gouache on paper

Tell me about your studio or creative space.

My creative space currently is my dining room table, so not at all fancy! One day of course, I would love to have my own studio space.

I love learning random facts about people, tell me three things about yourself. 

1.     I don’t like butter in my sandwiches, controversial I know! I would normally use a chutney instead.

2.     I’ve been to Beijing in China for a school art trip. It was an amazing opportunity, but I don’t think I would go back!

3.     I’ve just started a BSL (British Sign Language) course! It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, so I’m really happy that I’m going through it, albeit at quite a slow pace at the moment!

Finally, where can people follow your work online?

The best place to follow my art online is Instagram at: www.instgram.com/bloomhope_art or by joining my mailing list, which you can find on my website at: www.bloomhopeart.com.

Thank you so much to Kam for giving us an insight into her practice, I just love the way she captures nature in gouache, her recent sea landscapes are some of my favourites. To see more of her work please take a look at her Instagram page. Kam creates small collections of her works on paper and releases them for sale on her website, they sell out very quickly so I’d recommend joining her mailing list if you’re interested in adding one of her peaceful paintings to your art collection.

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Self Isolation Silver Linings

Last Monday I was pinged by the NHS app and told to self isolate, it was annoying timing as my partner was going to be off work for a few days and we were planning on having a few little adventures - since moving home in June we’ve been so busy with unpacking and decorating that we’ve hardly explored our new town together or spent much quality time together as a family.

I took a rapid lateral flow test which came back negative and then after sulking for a bit I decided to turn being housebound into a positive by getting my pens out.

A few weeks ago I was invited to exhibit with Chalk’s Gallery in Lymington in their exhibition Art Alchemy set to take place in September. I agreed to take part but hadn’t had the time to get started on the work to be exhibited, being told to stay at home for 10 days with my partner home to share caring for our toddler was the kick I needed to stop procrastinating.

I decided to make work inspired by landscape in the New Forest as this is where the gallery is based. I scrolled through the hundreds of photographs I have from day trips over the years and settled on some beautiful woodland scenes. I made two detailed drawings in the style of my woodland studies series, focusing on the sparkling dappled light and tiny natural details.

I’m out of isolation now and my partner is back to work so the duty of caring for our little boy is solely mine again, which means drawing is relegated to an hour at nap time if I’m lucky and evenings once he’s gone to bed. I will make two more pieces to be displayed at the gallery alongside the two ‘Brockenhurst’ drawings.

Brockenhurst I, 21cm x 14.9cm, pen on paper

Brockenhurst II, 21cm x 14.9cm, pen on paper

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Dream Art Destinations

This week on Instagram, Kate Bryan the art historian and judge on Portrait Artist of the Year gave a round up of her five dream art destinations, places she would transport herself to if she could to visit notable art works. It got me thinking about where my dream art destinations would be. Where in the world would I transport myself to if money were no object, covid-19 were not in existence and I had no responsibilities at home?

1. Monet’s Water Lily triptych in MoMA, New York. The one that started it all. I’ve spoken about this painting before, many times in fact. I first saw the painting on an A-Level college trip in 2005. I was taking Ceramics and Photography AS-Levels at the time and thought I might do photography at university because although I wasn’t particularly good at photography I really enjoyed it and liked the processes involved. It was a short trip and my first time going to the United States. We crammed a lot of art in to the time, visits to multiple Chelsea galleries, the Met and Whitney. What stuck with me most and set me off on a different path was the Monet in the MoMA. I’d never seen an impressionist painting as big before. The dreamy colours, the brush strokes. It pulled me in and mesmerised me. I’ve been back to see it twice since then, each time sitting with it for ages, hypnotised. I would book a plane ticket to New York just to sit in front of it again.

2. Monet at Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris. Following on from the Monet at the MoMA, a gallery that I would love to see inside is Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. Home to eight of Monet’s huge water lily landscape paintings, hung one after another in two oval shaped rooms so that the viewer is completely surrounded by beautiful compositions inspired by Monet’s garden in Giverny. I visited Paris on my art and design foundation year but wasn’t able to see inside l’Orangerie or Le Museé d’Orsay which is one of my regrets, within reach but just missed due to a tight schedule.

3. Tracey Emin and Egon Schiele at The Leopold, Vienna. One I’d need a time machine for would be ‘Where I Want To Go’ which took place in the summer of 2015 at The Leopold in Vienna. I’ve been extremely fortunate in that I have visited The Leopold before and I have seen Schiele’s incredible work close up. To see his intimate drawings alongside Tracey Emin’s work would be wonderful. I’ve seen Emin’s work in various places, at several Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions and at her solo show ‘The Last Great Adventure Is You’ at White Cube Gallery. Emin draws inspiration from her personal experiences, themes of love and loss. Her ways of working span painting and drawing, neon, sculpture, writing - as the saying goes ‘a jack of all trades’ - I’d go so far as saying she’s a master of them too. There are parallels in Emin and Schiele’s work which would be fascinating to witness in person.

4. Michelangelo at The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City. This one is lifted directly from Kate’s list because the more she spoke about it the more bereft I felt for not seeing it. I find it quite inconceivable that Michelangelo was able to produce such an incredible piece of work, quite frankly the scale and detail blows my mind and I haven’t even seen it in person. My art history knowledge is quite lacking really. Despite having Fine Art BA and MA degrees I have trouble retaining art history knowledge especially if it’s pre-19th century. I feel like seeing the Sistine Chapel would ignite a passion for art of the Renaissance period. Aside from seeing The Sistine Chapel I would also just love to visit Rome as I have never been and it does feel strange to have visited so many places on my travels but to have not been somewhere so culturally significant.

5. Cy Twombly at Tate Modern. Again I’d have to jump into a time machine for this one but I really wish I could have seen the Cycles and Seasons exhibition by Cy Twombly at Tate Modern in the summer of 2008. I have the catalogue which I picked up from Waterstones one day when I was fairly unfamiliar with Twombly’s work. The photographs of the expressive and scratchy paintings inside the book really spoke to me and I’ve had a passion for his work ever since. I have seen Twombly’s work in person before but I would love to see a whole collection of his work in one space so that I might be completely absorbed by it, with eyes tracing the deep lines scratched into the surface, trying to make out the writing scrawl.

So, there are five places that I would love to go to see beautiful art. Of course there are countless more museums that I’d love to revisit or see for the first time and I hope one day I will get to go. Alongside a regular ‘bucket list’ I have an art ‘bucket list’ and I feel extremely fortunate in that many places I have already been to (mostly on college and university art trips). The more art you see in person the more your life is enriched in my opinion. Where would you love to go to or revisit to see art?

If you enjoyed reading then please click the heart at the bottom, share or better still leave me a comment, I love reading them. ❤️