review | artist
TWICE THE
ARTIST
Perusing through a local gallery recently some exciting animal sculptures caught my eye; a six inch high polar bear and a black, gruff looking warthog among them. They were a little rough in their conception but that only served to give their bodies a realistic texture and although small versions of the real animal it was as if they could, at any moment, move and become aware of the people walking past them. The obvious question of who the sculptor was; was never allowed to escape as I was stopped by the assistant in the shop lifting up a pair of wonderful animal drawings and explaining they were by the same artist. We had found a real talent for this month’s Solent Life artist review. “I have always loved art as my father painted but it was something I had not taken too seriously until I neared retirement.” The artist was Anne Swatton and she was a charming lady who shared her armchair with a scowling terrier, whilst I had a sleepy Jack Russell for company when we visited her at her Hill Head home. “Like many of the artists you feature I did like art at school but it was always something I wanted to learn in readiness for when I retired, then, when that day arrived I was ready to start getting busy on my art.” “Painting obviously came first and I learned the techniques after joining in with an art group,” Anne continued with her story. “My favourite was watercolours, landscapes and such but mostly I enjoyed painting animals, both wild and domestic. The animals have long been a love of mine as I have always kept dogs and ridden horses.” That love of painting animals was further enhanced when Anne became one of the founder members of the Marwell International Wildlife Art Society (MIWAS) and she is now the Deputy Chair of the Society. Although self taught Anne admits she has inherited some of her father’s skills, some of his work depicting life as a POW in Poland during the Second World War, can be seen in the RAMC museum in Aldershot. She also gained inspiration, and her love of wildlife, from her grandparents in Yorkshire where she spent 32…
.co.uk • FEBRUARY 2013
long periods as a child and they encouraged her to take notice of the wildlife around them. From her father she has gained a fine insight into the world of art while from her grandparents she has taken a passionate love of the animal world. So, how did she begin the sculpting side of her talent? “I took a workshop in sculpting from the renowned sculptor Margot Dent whose work has a great demand throughout the world,” she replied, “She was at one of our fund raising events at MIWAS and asked me if I had ever tried sculpting, then within a fortnight I was joining in workshops she was giving!” Was the natural finish to her three-dimensional work something that she preferred? “I don’t like my work to be too polished and that was something that Margot encouraged. I like to give my animals character, especially in their faces. It was really hard at first but she was a great teacher. “Now, although I am retired, my main problem is still time constraints,” continued Anne, “I may be retired but I still have a very busy and packed life and fitting in time for my art work is always tricky; that said I love what I do and will keep on doing it as the work and its results are so special to me. My favourite is to work in ‘black-clay’, which actually comes out as a really dark brown, but my studio is also my kitchen and dark clay and cream units just don’t seem to match each other, so it takes me a long time to clean up after a session.” With two such distinct sides to her talent and work as an artist we had to wonder how she chose which to work on; was it a mood thing? “The two sides of my work, the painting and drawing and the sculpting never seem to cross over; I have the images, I work from photos, and that puts the picture of what