Alison Ford 'Bits and Pieces 1'

Alison Ford
'Bits and Pieces 1' (2021)
Oil on card
14.8cm x 21cm

"I have held an interest in colour in the natural landscape for decades. I am a painter. I live in a rainforest in rural NSW. I completed my Bachelor of Visual Art (Painting) with Honours in 2017 at the Australian National University in Canberra. Since then, I have been painting full time from my studio at home and successfully participating in national competitions and exhibitions. My paintings are included in private collections across a number of countries and The Australian National University public collection.

I studied Landscape Architecture in the early 1990s then spent 20 years working as a freelance designer in Australia and England, where I also created gardens of my own. My fascination with the diversity of colour and form in the plant world continues and is evident in my artwork. Unsurprisingly, my method of painting reflects my years as a garden designer, working from a flat surface without bias towards aspect, whilst seeking an overall balance in the image, just as I would when drawing a garden design. And also unsurprisingly, I am comfortable in image making from an abstract point of view. My artwork is intentionally, consciously abstract in nature.

Whilst oil paints held a long-term fascination for me, nowadays I use both oil and watercolour paint. Always seeking new ways of presenting colour, I have developed a way to prepare found tree bark to paint upon. More recently I have expanded my method to include collage of hand painted and cut paper. "