Interview
Lynn Keddie
Lynn Keddie is a British-born contemporary painter. She attended The Holt School in Berkshire and attained a BSc at London University in 1981. She had a successful career in business consultancy and publishing in London, but all the while kept painting, which has been a lifelong love.
In 1995, she moved with her young family to Wiltshire and started what was to become a very successful career in garden photography. In 2009, she started to develop her work as a painter, attending workshops given by artists she admired such as Alice Mumford RWA, Louise Balaam NEAC RWA, Sarah Spencer RAS NEAC and Paul Newland NEAC RWS.
In 2018 she moved to Frome, Somerset and took on a studio in a 200 year old Silk Mill in the town.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I love to paint and have for as long as I can remember. I was not an academic, but my father was - he was a scientist. And I was gently nudged towards a ‘sensible’ set of qualifications. I think he hoped that I would follow him into science and academia. That was not what I wanted, but I still found myself studying Food Science and Management at London University.
I went on to become a business analyst, then a magazine publisher. All through this time I tinkered with creative projects: interior design, painting, gardening. Then in 2000, after moving from London to the West Country with 3 young children in tow, I chucked it all in and became a photographer, photographing gardens for magazines.
In 2009, I started painting again. Initially, I went to a small painting group in a nearby village. The tutor is still a good friend today. I rediscovered my passion for painting, but I had a lot to learn, so I went to various art classes, studying under well-renowned artists.”
“I started to exhibit my work, first locally at small events. Then I exhibited at The Other Art Fair in Bristol, and later on at The Talented Art Fair and Roy’s Peoples Art Fair in London. I was selling my work and getting a following. It was slow but steady. All was going well until 2020.
Lockdown: I couldn’t do much work as a photographer. But I could go to my studio in The Silk Mill in Frome. I could paint, read about painters and then paint some more. I used to paint in oils but swapped to acrylic and experimented. I played. Having that time was like gold dust. I shut myself away from the pandemic and tried to focus on my work. I’m inspired most by the landscape, nature, the sea, our environment. And colour.”
“Some of my paintings contain a message; a message I don’t see until the painting is finished. Such as this painting, the Flounderling. A flounder is a fish. To flounder is to struggle. The Flounderling is my painting of a fish in a perfect ocean, but our oceans are far from perfect.
This Painting is being exhibited at the 160th Open Exhibition of the Society of Women Artists.”
How would you describe your work?
“Playful. Lyrical. Drifting between abstraction and representation. Using colour and marks to describe memories and feelings. I can draw on fragments of many memories, a colour, a shape, a sound. I don’t paint from life, because I would paint what I see.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“In the ’70s, my father made me wash plastic bags and tin foil to reuse them. He insisted our lifestyle was not sustainable. He was right. He also grew vegetables. I garden too, flowers and plants for wildlife. But what I see now is scary. 20 years ago, I could sit in among my flowers and be surrounded by butterflies. Last summer, I only saw 2 small tortoiseshell butterflies, and my garden is a butterfly’s banquet. Sparrows are on the red list. Insects getting squashed on your windscreen is no longer a thing.
Over the past year, my work has had more of an environmental theme. I celebrate the beauty of our environment in my work.”
“This painting is called 13%. When I finished this painting, I thought it looked like a glacier. Then I found that the Arctic Sea ice is now declining at a rate of 13% per decade. (Ref NASA)
This painting is being exhibited at the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition in the Mall Galleries, London this November.”
What is your creative process like?
“Up till 2020 I used oils. Now, I am using acrylics and mixed media. I use their speedy drying to my advantage: I paint many textural layers, then scrape back the dry paint to reveal the history of the painting. I try not to set out with intention because that just ends in frustration. Instead, I go with the flow and see what emerges. I paint on wooden panels because you can be brutal with them.
I use a variety of tools, brushes and knives, but also kitchen scrapers, trowels, sticks and dried leaves. Even plastic nets from bags of fruit. I raid my kitchen, my toolbox and my garden.”
Which artists influence you most?
“I am interested in John Hoyland’s and Howard Hodgkin’s work for their bold use of marks and colour, and Emily Mason’s translucent abstracts.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“An artist’s role is to look at and explain the world in a different way. For me, it’s to bring joy to both the viewer and myself. It’s easy to fall into the darkness of life. I work to offer positivity, to offer a reason to change to make things better. I highlight the beauty of our environment so that we might take more care of it. I don’t want to preach, I just want to whisper in your ear. I want you to stop and look at the beauty all around us. I want to offer a different perspective, a different way of seeing.
Art has no boundaries, be it geographical, age or sex. Art is for everyone. A painting doesn’t tell you what to think or what it means. You can interpret it as you wish.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I have been shortlisted or exhibited by:
2021 - Exhibiting at the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, The Mall Galleries.
Exhibiting at the 160th Open Exhibition of the Society of Women Artists.
2019 - The Royal West of England Academy. 1 work shortlisted.
2018 - Exhibiting 2 works at Swindon Museum and Art Galleries Annual Exhibition ‘Collective’ in 2018/19.
2017 - The Royal West of England Academy. 1 work shortlisted.
2016 - The Royal Society of Marine Artists-Mall Galleries. 2 works shortlisted.
2015 - The Royal West of England Academy. 1 work shortlisted.
2014 - The Royal West of England Academy. 2 works shortlisted.
My work can be found in private collections in the UK, USA and Canada.”
