The month had turned to September and that meant a new exibition at the Tea Amantes venue. This time local artist, Elizabeth Ward, had taken over the cafe walls. David Simper caught the service 61 bus once more to view this collection of paintings.
On entering the Tea Amantes gallery a tidy crowd was already in residence, admiring the paintings upon the walls.
Blackpool-based Elizabeth is a graduate of Blackpool and the Fylde College. Her work includes vibrant renditions of landscapes, seascapes and portraiture. This latest collection employs mainly oils, many developed from plein air work along the Fylde Coast.
I was impressed by the bold and quite loose style employed. There is also variety here. The mark-making is deceptively strong, given the semi-abstract technique. Composition is excellent, including the abstracts; the pieces can be sparse, which makes them impactful especially given the bright colour palette employed. These are well thought out and well executed works. They come in a good range of sizes, so you can choose one that will fit on your lounge wall.
Sitting outside on the cafe’s patio, I spoke to Elizabeth about her working methods and the context behind her work. I informed her I had detected something of a shift in her style, from work I’d seen previously.
“Really! she replied. “So, I try to stick to figurative, more of the actual object or the scene; in this case, I have stuck to scenes of the sky, landscapes, seascapes and anything that’s nature oriented. I’ve still not found my true style, I don’t think, so there is experimentation going on, which might answer your question.”
What was behind the bright colour palette (apart from a dark rendition of a light house)?
“I like using ultramarine; I suppose in Blackpool on a cloudy day that would be bright. I don’t like to mix my paints, some are straight from the tube. Some I’ve used oil pastel, which is difficult to mix. The oil pastels are the ones that are most true to actual colour. Of the paintings, there are two of the garden, the bluebell one and the lanterns; so I think those are the truest to the actual colour palette. Also the one at the back, which was of the shoreline at Fleetwood on an overcast day.”
In addition to oil pastel, what other materials do you use?
“Acrylic paint, oil paint, water-based pigments, acrylic pen. There’s a whole load of mixed media in some of the pieces. I do like working with oil, but there is a fire hazard using turpentine. It can be difficult to ventilate the studio, which is why I’ve chosen to use acrylics more, water-based paint. I tend to use a mixed-media palette; a lot of this work is possibly more experimental, as I’ve said. I wasn’t really sure where I was going with any of it, I just spilled it out onto the canvas.”
Do you sketch out, or use a loose painting technique?
“Sometimes I take photographs, I do a little sketch. I’ve also painted plein air, on site. When you’re using paint, you have to be able to manipulate it in a certain way to make it look like something. You’re never going to get the reality of what you’re painting in a painting. There have been masters, like Turner, who could paint the sky; I can’t do that, so I just do what I do.”
How do you see your work developing from this point?
“I’m not sure whether it will, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll try to think of some more…. I have some thoughts of maybe doing some interiors. Interior views, they may look nice. I need to get back into thinking about how I want the paintings to look, rather than just putting them down. I think I need to study more broadly. It’s been a learning curve this exhibition.”
Thanks to Elizabeth for these insights into her inspiration and process.
Her work is on display at the Tea Amantes gallery until 5th October, 2025.
