Deb Allitt

About the Artist

My love of beautiful landscapes, and what it feels like to be in beautiful landscapes, is the subject of my paintings. In them I want the viewer to see a real place represented, and also to enjoy the colours, textures, marks and idiosyncrasies of the paint on the canvas. Making the paintings involves experiencing a place, intense looking, drawing, imagining, interpretation, painting carefully and sometimes wildly letting go with paintbrush and palette knife. The varied qualities of the paint, the sensory power of the colour, the evidence of the painting process itself are all features which exist in balance with the representational aspect of the work.

Every painting starts with observational drawing or painting, in pencil, charcoal, watercolour or oil sketches. Sitting in a field or on a riverbank I become engrossed in the process as I try to understand everything around me through looking, measuring, mark making and composing a living landscape into a piece of art. One of the most enjoyable moments is drawing figures as they walk by. The figures tell the story that we are in that landscape. In my studio in Derby I make larger scale paintings, always starting with the drawings I have done on site.

I have lived in Derbyshire for most of my life, and now live near Derby. In the 1980s I studied Fine Art at Middlesex University and then the West of England Art School (now part of Bristol University) where I specialised in painting. In 2005 I completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Fine Art at Derby University. I continue to learn from artists past and present, by studying their work, going on courses and visiting exhibitions.