Emily Little – Paintings
My work is largely an experimental process where I seek out surprise ‘encounters’ and ‘incidents’ that arise when idea and material converge.
Colourscapes
My paintings draw on memory and emotion as a driving and creative force of the image. Stimulated by walking and travelling through landscape (both natural and urban), the paintings are an expression of the transformative dialogue between the physical and psychic worlds.
At the same time, my work acknowledges the influence of landscape painting traditions in British art, especially watercolours, and the dominant idiom of the Scottish colourists. The juxtaposition of depth and flatness within the compositions, stems from my love of Chinese watercolours and Japanese sumi-e, while the marks and patterns are reminiscent of textiles or wood block prints; the preparation of collage paper often includes my making monotype abstract prints.
I use heavy-duty (640 g/m2), cold-pressed, 100% cotton watercolour paper as a support, which is capable of resisting the lengthy and often aggressive making process.
Urbanscapes
The subjects for my urban landscape paintings are usually developed from fleeting impressions glimpsed while travelling by train or car. This way of observing the subject helps me to perceive the built-up environment as a set of impermanent and mutable shapes and structures.
Back in the studio, I use memory and photos to make sketches where I select, digest and reinvent what I have seen or felt from the momentary, but vast, intake of confusing and diverse forms. As they emerge, the urban shapes in the painting seem to take on their own solid, individuality and spirit almost in defiance of their conceived spatial and temporal transience.
Industrial Reverie
50×70, Acrylic & Mixed Media
The Passenger
30×40, Acrylic & Mixed Media
Flyover, Flyover
30×40, Acrylic & Mixed Media
Interiors
Interiors have been a recurring subject in my painting. Although some painting titles refer to actual places, the interiors themselves are never simply an illustration of a specific location. Using colour, light and form, I seek to explore beyond the descriptive in order to construct a new reality unconstrained by place or time.
A constant feature of the interiors is a window, which provides the primary light source and from which departs a fleeting play of light and shadow. I use coloured collage planes to achieve this and to emphasize the formal structure of the space and objects. An early interest in Turner’s works, specifically ‘Interior at Petworth’, drew me to the interior as a subject for painting. Using watercolour collage as a painting medium has allowed me to develop new approaches to this genre.
Cloan
30×40, Acrylic & Mixed Media
The Drawing Room
30×40, Acrylic & Mixed Media
The Red Room
30×40, Acrylic & Mixed Media