I’m delighted to introduce you to Felicity Talman, another Ambassador for Pastel Today.
Felicity Talman, a young artist living in Wales, is currently working towards a BA in Fine Art at the University for the Creative Arts. Inspired by nature and natural forms, for instance seaweed, Felicity is interested in the relationship between colour and texture in her paintings. Recently she’s been exploring line, edge, mark-making, and the physicality of drawing.
In 2020, Felicity was awarded “Best Young Still Life” and “Best Young Animal/Wildlife” in the SAA Artists of the Year competition and was shortlisted as a finalist in 2021. And, she recently had a piece accepted into the Pure Colour Juried Pastel Exhibition. She’s a juried member of the Pastel Guild of Europe and the Association of Animal Artists.
Now let’s get to her artwork!
This painting, Alga Tarantella, is part of a series of pastel paintings Felicity is creating that’s inspired by seaweed that’s washed up on the beach in the welsh coastal town of Aberaeron. Felicity states, “My intention throughout the series was to explore and manipulate the organic forms of seaweed. Through modifying colour, texture, and composition, I aim to create something otherworldly – sitting in an undistinguished place between realism and abstraction, that feels recognisable yet strange.”
“My practice is inspired by nature, more specifically organic forms, and my reference for Novis Alga 3 was seaweed found on my local beach. My process involves arranging the seaweed into engaging compositions and modifying the colour as a way of bringing life back into the seaweed, but also as a method of abstracting the subject. Manipulating colour and shape within the composition allows me to create a pastel painting in which the subject and space are questioned. By using soft pastels on sanded paper, I was able to utilise multiple layers of colour, mark-making and texture to express the individuality of the organic forms.”
Gemma Maris, meaning Gem of the Sea in Latin, is part of the same abstract series of pastel paintings inspired by seaweed. “My intention throughout the series was to explore and manipulate these organic forms and as the series has progressed, the paintings have become more and more abstracted. My process for this painting involved combining abstract elements with more structured forms through a rhythmical use of mark-making and colour. Colour plays an important role in my work. I paint with the colours that I want to see rather than the colours I see in reality.”
Wonderful! Keep painting Felicity!! And thank you so much for spreading the word about Pastel Today!
Want to see more work by Felicity Talman? Check her out on Instagram.
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Did you catch my earlier article on Ambassador Carolyn Hancock?
And that’s it for the time,
Gail
