Art...
THERE’S AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF TALENT in
Wales and the Border Counties, as anyone who lives
here will testify to. Many of the area’s artists take
their inspiration from the beauty they see around
them every day, whether it’s amazing landscapes,
overwhelming coastlines or the truly wonderful
wildlife the region has in such abundance.
One such artist is Zoe Jones, who paints on
commission from her home in the Tanat Valley, near
Oswestry in Shropshire. Zoe’s work is very
individual and extremely striking. She uses acrylics
on canvas, often creating pieces up to 2 or 3ft in
size. Most of her subjects are animals, reflecting and
uniting her other passions.
“I’m inspired by rural pursuits, I love the traditions
of the countryside, and as an active member of
both the shooting community and recently the
stalking community I feel that I’m able to bring a
sense of realism and passion for these things
through my paintings,” Zoe tells us. With my
work experience firmly planted in countryside
management, my paintings reflect my deep love of
rural pursuits, in particular, shooting and deer
stalking, as well as wildlife.”
Zoe’s story is an inspiring one, too. Dissuaded
from art at school by a negative experience with
the subject teacher – despite her passion for
wildlife drawing – she returned to the subject after
a gap of almost 15 years.
“I’ve always wanted to paint, but because I
haven’t got any formal training I was very nervous
about using paint, as I didn’t know how to apply it,”
she explains. “But I spent some time out in America
with a friend who’s also a well-established artist
and he spent 10 days giving me a painting
masterclass on aspects like mixing colours,
applying the paint and so on.
“After that, I came home and there was a lot of
trial and error. Now I’ve been painting for about
three years, although I did a lot of pencil drawing
before that. In total, I’ve probably been dabbling her strong use of colour combines to great effect Zoe paints a lot of gun dogs, with her creative
for about 10 years. My painting is very current and with dark backgrounds and dramatic contrast. peak coming during the shooting season. This year,
has happily been successful from the very start. “People like my backgrounds,” Zoe adds. “ I’ve she’s also been asked to produce a painting to
Everything I’ve painted so far has sold, which is adapted a style, so that the subject is the focus, represent the Northumberland Grouse Project
great,” she adds. rather than the background. It’s something that which is run on an MOD site. The painting needed
Perhaps it’s because of her obvious flair and evolved by itself; it’s not something I intended to to portray both the military and the grouse and so
unique style that people like her work so much: do. But people really seem to respond to it.” evolved Grouse and Gun. trianglert
October 2008 83
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