Cityscapes and Landscapes

About

Cityscapes and Landscapes is an exhibition of colourful, expressive paintings, dynamic sketches and fluid iPad drawings by north London artist Liz Sutherland.

Her latest body of work has been inspired by three strikingly different locations: the dramatic seascapes of Scotland and Sweden, and the intense urban cityscapes of London.

In her Scottish scenes she conjures up the beauty and remoteness of the west coast island of Iona, giving the paintings a sense of the freedom of the landscape through the use of expressive brush strokes and a vibrant palette.

The sea is a recurring element in Sutherland’s work and a visit to Sandhammeren beach in southern Sweden has also captured her imagination.  Again, it was the particular quality of the colour and light which she found arresting and in these paintings she seeks to capture the sun’s fleeting brilliance as it hit the coast line on a very cold day in December.

Closer to home are the more familiar scenes of Alexander Palace and iconic views of Waterloo Bridge.  The contrast of the urban juxtaposed with the natural have remained favourite motifs.

It is important for Liz to keep the paintings fresh and alive.  She often works on several at the same time, using confident gestural marks.  She tries out new techniques such as using a syringe or thick brushes attached to poles to apply her paint.  “In this way I have less control and the results continue to surprise and excite me,” she explains.

Liz draws using charcoal and pastels on paper, as well as employing photographs to aid her “re-imagining” when back in her North London studio.  But it is her interest in the use of the iPad that has had the most significant impact on her working methods.  This is particularly noticeable in her London oil paintings.  For Liz, the iPad has become the ‘modern sketchbook’, its particular qualities of line and shape influencing the subsequent transformation into paint.  She is attempting to create a kind of shorthand abstract language in paint, which never quite abandons the subject matter.  “Usually the ones that come out quickly work the best.  The freedom of paint is what I’m trying to produce.”  (Ham and High, 2016).

Highgate Gallery is delighted to announce that Liz will be holding a free demonstration on iPad drawing on Sunday 7th July from 2-3pm.  Participants should bring their own iPad with the Brushes XP application downloaded if possible.  All levels welcome.

Liz comes from family of artists.  Her grandparents were renowned Scottish painters D.M. Sutherland (RSA) and Dorothy Johnstone (ARSA).  She studied History of Art at UCL and then went on to do a painting postgraduate course at Central St Martin’s.  She has had solo shows in London, Oxford and Ely and exhibits regularly in Open Studios with Collage Arts (previously in the Chocolate Factory).  She trained to be a teacher in 2009 and regularly teaches art to Primary Schools children and to disabled adults.  This is Liz’s second solo show at Highgate Gallery.