Angela Smith

A series of paintings of women.

You can tell so much about someone from their back and yet not seeing their faces pose more questions of who these women are.

"Yet he was more original than his originals. He breathed upon dead bodies and brought them into Life" Ralph Waldo Emerson, Letters and Social Aims

This series is currently in progress and the aim is to create a body of work which reimagines Shakespearian characters in their younger years. 

"To look into the eyes of a wolf is to see your own soul" Native American Proverb

The idea of an animal soul or spirit animal is central to this series of work. It draws upon myths, fairytales, contemporary fiction and Shamanistic beliefs. Wolves, for example, represent the deepest levels of self and inner knowing. They are highly organised and social animals but also remind us that we still have our wild spirit. Deer have the ability to listen with grace and have appreciation for the beauty of balance and in myths they tempt us away from civilisation to explore our own magical and spiritual nature. 

This series is about our kinship with animals and nature but also about our inner life - our instincts, our intuition and our nature. 

"In the long dusks of summer we walked the suburban streets through scents of maple and cut grass, waiting for something to happen" Steven Millhauser, Dangerous Laughter

Memories of summer always seem to lead you back to childhood. Its not a specific and clear memory but warm, nostalgic and definitely hazy around the edges: The smell of cut grass, the blossom on trees, birds chirping and the building of heat in the air and the feeling of freedom as school year ends and the long weeks which stretch ahead like eternity. Its about potential of experience, of daydreaming and of wonder.

During the child years of our lives we often have intense emotions which stay with us as adults and are invoked by music, seasons, places....and as adults we look back to the past with a mixture of longing and relief. I'm interesting in this subject because I think memories are an untrustworthy source and are part fact, part fantasy and part idealism - making our memories of childhood a fictional chapter in our lives.  

"Memories of childhood were the dreams that stayed with you after you woke" Julian Barnes

Clothing and childhood have a special connection in my memories of growing up as my mum, a dressmaker, would make me quite elaborate party dresses. I remember lush turquoise velvet dresses, dresses with victorian aprons and crushed black velvet knickerbockers with voile chemises (it was the 1970s!).  There always seemed to be fabrics and trimmings lying around the house and my mum's designs from her collage course which probably inspired me to draw as a child. This was my inspiration for Paper Dolls and those dolls with the cut out clothing which were popular then. 

After working on the Paper Doll collages I began to create/design the patterns myself. In this series of work I've continued to use flat pattern juxtaposed  with the more realistic treatment of the figures. 

"Don't you wish you could take a single childhood memory and blow it up into a bubble and live inside it forever?" Sarah Addison Allen, Lost Lake

Paper Doll series was inspired by a childhood past time associated with dressing up and designing outfits for dolls. Paper dolls could be found in annuals and magazines such as Bunty and Judy.

In this body of work I’m interested in creating my own version of paper dolls and have been sourcing inspiration from illustration, pattern surface and fashion magazines. Rather than using models for my work I have started to reconstruct a paper doll from images from magazines, flat geometrical pattern or at times my own imagination and design. 

The ideas around this series are linked to the notion of ‘childhood’ being synonymous with innocence and goodness, a romantic and idealistic view created by the Victorians and one which we continue to aspire to, if not uphold, in our society today.

I was interested in creating an ambiguous atmosphere in which I could explore how the viewer reacts if they sense something is not quite right.  Most of the paintings are of life-sized children who stand alone on a dark painted background. Some of the children have their eyes closed except for two, who stare back at the viewer with considered confidence.

The viewer is the witness and how they interpret the work is part of the work. As an artist I didn’t have the answers to the questions posed – why are the children out alone at night? Why are their eyes closed?  I was interested in setting the scene and allowing the viewer to complete the story.   

"If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint" Edward Hopper

My motivation in painting a portrait is to capture moments of reflection and the essence of a person's personality in an unposed manner. I work from photographs and will spend time with the sitter to try and capture an unreserved moment. 

If you are interested in commissioning a portrait or, if you are inspired by my work and its no longer available you can commission me to create a piece of work for you, please contact me (link below) for details.