Louise BALAAM

Louise Balaam's background is in ceramics and clay sculpture but since completing an MA in Fine Art three years ago she has concentrated solely on painting. Her landscape paintings are an emotional response to the natural world she sees around her. Her inspiration comes from English landscapes of significance, such as the spectacular South Downs, the never-ending beachesin Norfolk, the Kentish Weald,  and the ancient hill forts in Wiltshire. It’s no surprise that Constable’s oil sketches are a commanding influence.

Louise sketches ‘en plein-air’ and returns to her studio to paint. Using confident brushwork she creates an emotional and poetic response through the sensuality and depth of colour achievable with oil. This new exhibition demonstrates how she works, utilising the paint to create the excitement and exhilaration she feels, surrounded by and at one with ‘her’ landscape.

"I am fascinated by the capacity of paint to express things which cannot be put into words" she explains. "I paint intuitively, so the painting becomes an entity in its own right which starts to make its own demands - in a sense, it begins to answer back".

It was a thrill for us to see one of Louise’s paintings hung in Gallery IX at the Royal Academy this summer, this being the thrird year she has been invited to show, and to hear of her success in the Royal West of England Academy competition in the spring.

Laurie MacLaren and Diana Lanham, November 2010

Paintings