My work explores the relationship and emotional response that people have with their environment.

Previously I have focused on feelings of alienation resulting from urban living. Modern life can make people feel alone, isolated, and distanced from the natural world, immersed in a superficial, material existence.

More recently I have become increasingly interested in the deep attachment that people have with their intimate surroundings and how this shapes their lives, forms their memories and affects their feelings of well-being. On a deeper level, I like to link this to humanity’s eternal physical and spiritual affinity and place within nature by evoking an atmosphere of stillness, quietude and timelessness in my paintings.

My paintings often feature a building as a motif to describe the place of humanity within the landscape. Buildings are visible in the landscape yet they can also be private spaces containing memories or public/meeting spaces where relationships are created and events occur.

I frequently use figures in the form of silhouettes inspired by old snapshots. The silhouettes represent unique moments in time – fixed, frozen and never to be repeated, like shadows emerging from the darkness of the past. In the painting this creates an essence of a person rather than a specific individual. The anonymity allows the viewer a space to create their own meaning or narrative.

My paintings don’t create an illusion of reality. I am interested in the physical process of painting, experiencing “paint as paint”, and my methods draw attention to this. I like to use colour, composition and mark-making in unexpected ways to evoke meaning and atmosphere.

For further information please enquire by email at janebarwood@outlook.com