Debbie Goldsmith. Mostly Sunny

About

Debbie Goldsmith is a British artist born in 1969, she studied at Coventry Polytechnic, where she honed her skills in painting and drawing. She currently has a studio based in Cheshire, where she creates her artwork. In 2001, her paintings were commissioned for the restaurant interior and atrium spaces as part of the Lowry Hotel's first interior design scheme. 

In this recent series of paintings Goldsmith’s starting point is the landscape and in particular that of Cheshire where she currently lives and works. She uses the local countryside to make field notes and drawings whilst out walking, her quick sketches note the change in season and weather. Back in the studio she uses the sketches as a starting point and employs experimental processes in drawing and printmaking to generate a unique vocabulary of mark-making and exploring various compositions which she then works up into larger scale-paintings. 

In the studio Goldsmith’s painting process is both meditative and deliberate in its approach. Her intention is to capture something of the outside to bring in, glimpses of recognisable shapes, repeat as a devise to catch the eye, one might recognise the shape of a tree, the edge a field, a path and although starting with specific subject matter her practice eventually becomes more exploratory and loose. The scale of the work is important as it relates to the way in which the work is made, the physicality of painting is evident, but it is also a way of inviting the viewer to step in. 

Making the paintings is a physical act and this is evident in their scale and size and the use of bold, sweeping brushstrokes that create an energetic sense of movement and flow. Working in oils she employs big brushes to create drips and splashes that develop into layers of drawing and gesture on the surface. As a final act to complete the works she uses oil bars to bring the pieces together by drawing direct linear marks onto the surface of the canvas, the layers provide an opportunity to almost look through another reference to how one might glimpse elements in a landscape and another way of inviting the viewer to look in and engage with the painting. Goldsmith’s colour palette has been described as ‘joyful’ and ‘optimistic’ something she also hints at with her use of titles, there is always a sunny outlook or a possibility of change, this vibrant and expressive use of colour sometimes suggests a change in weather which captures the essence of the landscape.