Charlotte Crosby

Grandad
Oil paint on board
60 x 40cm
2019
£250

One Sixth Form College

From a very young age my family have always made sure I have had the materials to drawing and I have ended up drawing more than doing anything else. They also took me to art galleries such as the Royal Academy which is where my inspiration initially came from. When I was younger I found myself limiting my choices of subject, feeling held back by my skills. However, since developing my confidence in painting them, I feel the creativity to paint everything and my passion has grown. Since starting to study art at sixth form my favorite media has become oil paint with my focus being predominantly on still life. Still life sparked my interest initially because I liked the way I could give inanimate, seemingly mundane objects personalities and they make me better appreciate the beauty within ordinary things. My painting style has mostly been influenced by Chardin and Van Gogh. Chardin inspires me for his mastery of composition and the atmosphere he creates making something like an apple seem luxurious and extraordinary. Van Gogh’s use of colour has massively influenced me and has made me a braver and more honest painter. A lot of my inspiration still comes from galleries but it also comes from Pinterest where one idea I may have meanders leading me to another. My art class itself is full of extremely passionate artists which has only made me more passionate about my own work with their ideas often inspiring some of my own. My own paintings often focus on reflections because I love the distortion and variations in colour; light itself is what brings objects to life so I am interested in exploring that more. I am beginning to expand my range of subjects in my free time looking more at animals, portraits and other expressive themes and hope to eventually establish my own distinctive style.