Artist Q&A: Ursula Leach

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Ursula Leach

Suzanne Riley - Hanging Field carborundum and hand colouring ed 1 of 7 31x40cm Gall P £510.jpg

HCA: How did you get into art? 

I saw a painting when I was eight in the art room at school and I knew that was what I wanted to do although I did not realize that until much later.  The painting was green, bluey grey, red and white.

HCA: How do you start each piece?

Do you generally have an idea about the image you’re going to create before you begin? I walk in the landscape not consciously looking for anything then some conjunction of colour and shape may strike me so I make a drawing and take a photo. The painting is all done in the studio and I don’t have much of an idea of how it will look except that I want to express the feeling of the motif.

HCA: What materials do you use and why? 

I use oil paint for its rich colours and ability to be applied thick and thin, scrubbed off, dripped, smeared etc..  For printmaking I use Carborundum grit for its ability to produce deep rich, velvety coloured prints.

HCA: Where do you get your inspiration from?

The landscape and from my own previous paintings that I move on into a usually much edited form.

Suzanne Riley - Moonlight ed 4 of 10 28.5x34cm Carborundum and hand colouring Gall P £480.jpg

HCA: What’s your studio like?

Large and a sanctuary where I have two plan chests, my printing press and my work.  It has good light, is very cold in winter and is an old forge.

HCA: Are there any other artists (past or present) that inspire you?

A lot, too many to mention here, but here are some:
Milton Avery, William Crozier, Gary Hume, Clare Woods, Peter Kinley, Henri Matisse, Francis Bacon, Helen Frankenthaler

HCA: What is it you are trying to achieve in your pieces? 

I hope to express the feeling I had when I first saw the motif.  Also I want to say something about what is happening in agriculture today.  The work is intended to be a document as well as an expression

HCA: How do you know when a piece is finished and when it’s the right time to stop? I know the work is finished when the feeling that comes back at me from the canvas is the same or very similar to the feeling I had when I first saw the motif. 

HCA: Are there any other art forms that you would like to try such as sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, painting etc?  

I make a lot of prints and have done some sculpture.

HCA: What are you working on currently? 

I am working on a much edited and simplified version of a painting I completed earlier this year.