The Creative Process

It's always fascinating to see the creative process behind an artist's work. So we're delighted to have been given behind the scenes access in Anna Boss' studio to follow the development of one of her new mixed media paintings layer by layer.

When starting a new body of work Anna heads out into the landscape to sketch, often using Quink or graphite and relief ink on Mylar. Some of Anna's favourite spots include the countryside along the River Frome, the chalk hills of the South Downs and Leigh Woods, near her home in Bristol.

Back in the studio Anna uses slow-drying acrylic paint and boatbuilders’ epoxy resin to create her landscape paintings. With each layer Anna either adds detail and structure or partly obscures marks from the previous layer. The translucent nature of her medium means that the interesting textures and history of the painting are not lost in the finished piece. Not only does this way of working provide depth in the paintings but also a tangible sense of the changeable weather conditions of the landscape. Anna is particularly drawn to landscapes in flux, whether it's the settling of mist over rolling hills, skies heavy with impending rain or the play of light streaming through the trees in summer.

"I seek out open spaces with distant views and depth of light. I try to document this time, these journeys, through the quality of light: the ever changing skies and the way that the distant features can fade in and out depending on the sunlight, the cloud cover and the moisture in the air."

The resulting paintings therefore avoid becoming static representations of the landscape, and instead feel as though they could be shifting and changing before your very eyes. Anna's approach to painting allows her to evoke a sense of time passing and capture something of what it is to be out in the countryside.

Follow the evolution of the painting 'Dusk' below, and click here to see more of Anna's new paintings.