Colours Of A Day - Alison Berrett

Alison is fascinated by the natural world and the importance of her relationship with it. Berrett lives & works in Oxfordshire; her studio and home are surrounded by the expansive skies the Cotswold landscape provides and she loves it. She also has a lifelong connection to the sea having grown up near the coast. Using landscape and seascape as starting points, she works en plein air on sheets of loose paper, using pastels and gestural marks intuitively so as to capture movement and colour simultaneously.

Alison explores motion and energy alongside notions of time and metamorphosis within the natural and physical world. Colour and qualities of light have a leading role to play in her work and are the expression of the transient moments she notices from observing the land and sea and sky. For Berrett the process of drawing on site fixes the experience in her body and memory and having them to work from feels powerful & honest.

In her studio, she works in oils, acrylics and pastels on larger canvases or paper and uses elements from the whole body of drawings made outside as starting points. From here her paintings combine the visual recordings made, with her passion for colour mixing and mark making.

Creating drama and awe are important to her and she plays with contrasts in colour, tone and proportion to achieve this. During the studio painting process, metaphorical thoughts arise which are often reflected in the titles she gives them.

In making art in this way, she believes that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE Alison’s artwork is a celebratory expression of the awe and joy she feels about the natural world and the wonder of living as part of it...