I am inspired by Kaye Freeman’s paintings in oil and enamel paint. She layers elements of the urban landscape including the strong architecture of her home city, downtown Los Angeles, with the neon and sky colours reflected on the buildings. The shapes are arranged in a pleasing manner and although their placement feels abstract, they are interconnected with textures and lines that calibrate and order your experience of the work.
She relates stories to the landscapes using figures and motifs, and I enjoy the surrealism of her paintings, in the sense that they can feel like dreamscapes or tell mythical tales, yet they are still grounded in time and place. This is due to the presence of familiar architecture, or the colours suggesting a specific time of day.
I painted the below image with this in mind. I think it would be interesting to also explore the placement of the landscape elements, and see how I can make it tell a story- perhaps using the landscape of present-day Nottingham to show the story of its industrial past.
Source – https://www.kayefreeman.com/