Boys Race Coverack Regatta, Lucy Pratt
It’s a grey old day out there and it’s Monday morning and I have to say I’m possibly not in the sunniest of moods but as I sit here and gaze at images of Lucy Pratt’s paintings something starts to shift. Lucy’s paintings make me feel happy…
Now this isn’t a chocolate box, clutch of cute kittens in a basket, transient kind of happiness. This is deeper, more intrinsic, like a smile growing from the inside – there’s something in these paintings that absolutely conveys the vitality and spirit of a good moment. So as I pondered upon the vital, infectious scenes in Lucy’s work, I became more curious about the artist herself.
Now I’ve lived long enough to know that the ability to capture the carefree is only earned by extreme discipline in art and life – and so with Lucy – who was two years into her Fine Art degree when she realised that it just wasn’t inspiring her creatively – so she decided to go her own way. The confidence to do this, is perhaps explained, by Lucy coming from a family of artists.
So followed years of travelling and painting in India, Nepal and Thailand (taking jobs in the UK to pay for it) and as Lucy explains – over there it really is about living in the moment and that’s not always easy. But for her, it was the challenge of allowing that adventure and serendipity, that enabled her to begin to grow as an artist.
The vibrant colours of India are so dramatically different to the British landscape that it took Lucy ages to find the correct palette. And she achieved it by painting the same palm trees on the same beach again and again and again. As she says, it took about three months to get anywhere close to what she was seeing… “but when you’re an artist there are no excuses, it’s down to you.”
Since those early days in Asia, Lucy’s work has been in high demand and her work is held in many private collections throughout the world. Now she sells through the renowned Fosse Gallery and Ainscough Gallery. Since returning to the UK for good, Lucy has married and had children. I think anyone who has tried to juggle creativity and family will know it’s not always easy, so I was intrigued to find out how Lucy managed it.
Her solution was to retire to her studio in the attic of her house and paint intensively between the hours of 8 till 11 in the evening. Well I’ve certainly intended to write during those hours – but failed miserably – so I know it takes serious commitment to achieve this at the end of a tiring day with the little people. I was beginning to understand something I had glimpsed in her paintings – Lucy knows how to recognise the good moments.
Cheese Please, Lucy Pratt
So there was no riling against the imposed lack of freedom (like some of us), instead Lucy turned to the many sketchbooks she had filled over the years and she began to look inwards for inspiration, somewhere deeper, more philosophical perhaps. Relishing the moments captured on each page. Lucy told me, “ …ideas would come thick and fast, one painting would become a series – it was just important to get it out and then come back and work on them all later.” Thereby instilling the discipline of art to the recollected glimpse of the moment. So the landscape of Cornwall, skiing holidays and food all came into the mix.
Spice of Life, Lucy Pratt
Indeed Lucy’s upcoming show is called, Spice of Life. The painting from which the show takes its title shows many chefs preparing a meal and Lucy tells me to look more closely at the painting. In the middle are two chefs, one is bending over the cake, intent on his art, the other is just relaxing in the moment. Lucy says that this is like the two parts of her, the ying and the yang as it were.
Of course it’s rare to have a whole day of wonderful moments, as Lucy says, “they’re like clouds passing in an instant, but it’s about being uplifted by those moments.” And those moments are seen in her paintings and it’s those moments that I’m feeling, when I look at them. This is art indeed.
Lucy’s upcoming Spice of Life exhibition will be held at the Fosse Gallery, Stow on the Wold from 4th to the 24th March. And her paintings are also at the Ainscough Gallery, Dartmouth. Go and be inspired.
