a d v e r tisin g feat u r e a r t
FAMILIAR FACES Bath artist joanne cope brings her cattle back to the High Street in November
F
or more than a decade, Joanne Cope has been paying a painterly tribute to the humble cow. Both she and the subjects of her large-scale portraits – contemplative cows and handsome bulls – have become familiar faces in and around gallery spaces in Bath. The city is in for another treat this November as a new selection of work by this Bath artist is unveiled on Milsom Street. It will feature 18 recent artworks by Cope in a variety of sizes, including ten brand-new, large-scale oil paintings of cattle. Among them are beautiful images of Charolais, Limousin and Hereford breeds, along with lively mixed media studies of stags and hares. Cope strives for “simplicity and beauty” within her work, always mindful of striking a visually engaging balance between hard and soft edges, bright and muted colours, and the use of light for dramatic effect. She is fascinated by the way light reflects off the muscles of a bull's head or the flash of light in a cow's eyes, and enjoys the challenge of bringing those details to life with paint. She scouts out her subjects in their natural habitat as often as she can, watching their behaviour, sketching and taking photographs. “There’s no substitute for an encounter in the
field,” she explains, and cites her opportunities to observe cattle in their natural environment as her best resource material. Back in the studio, Joanne uses the sketches and photographs to create small detailed colour compositions, from which she chooses the best to scale up and paint onto canvas. From there she begins layering up paint, working from dark to light – sometimes checking the image in mirrors to get an entirely new viewpoint of the work in progress. Once Joanne feels a piece is complete, she then applies several layers of tinted medium to unify colour before the painting is finally varnished.
paintings will be well received as Joanne's exhibitions nearly always sell out. This show could be your chance to secure an original Joanne Cope piece, and have your very own resident bovine beauty.
“...small studies are scaled up for the final painting” Alongside the oil paintings in this new body of work, there is also a selection of energetic oil pastel drawings on canvas, which allow us to see Cope successfully exploring another medium to capture the appearance of these magnificent creatures. If past shows are anything to go by, these
Cattle Paintings by Joanne Cope 2 – 21 November 28 Milsom Street, Bath, BA1 1DN Tel: 07958 703 438 / 01225 322 962 www.joannecope.com
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