Artist’s Statement:

Juliet West is an artist based in Dorset and Buckinghamshire. Having gained a BA hons in Fine Art from Surrey Institute of Art and Design she has gone on to become a painter, an art teacher and illustrator. Inspired by the Purbeck coastline, and particularly Swanage, her work captures the area in both abstract and representational ways. She says of her work, “I aim to produce work that although recognisable, has an element of the abstract and the hand crafted. I don’t want the paintings to appear too polished, as if they’re trying too hard. I use mixed media and metal leaf on canvas to achive a 3D relief to the surface so that you can touch the textures in the work, feel the craggy cliffs; the sea foam; the rocks. The reflections on the leaf, mirror the way the seascapes change with the weather. I think in a time where technology can produce an abundance of photographic imagery of places, a painting needs to go further than pure representation, it needs to excite other senses, to evoke a feeling of the place. I hope my work goes some way to achieving this.”