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artportfolio: Laura Mugford

Matchstick girl

Matchstick girl

Original
Mixed Media
20cm x 20cm

Introduction

 My mixed media paintings are predominantly watercolour and pastel, and I use a variety of mediums alongside these to create an unusual look and texture. Some are finished with gold leaf in areas that catches the light and shines amongst the soft dreamy texture of the rest of the painting.

I carefully choose my materials for their longevity. For example, I select acid free surfaces, and the most lightfast pigments available. My work is then framed to Fine Art Trade Guild Conservation standard by a Guild commended framer. This little bit of love and care ensures the work can be cherished for the years to come, and possibly serve as an investment.

Statement

As an artist I am intrigued by the inherently strange and beautiful. I admire things that don’t have to be logical to make sense, and reflecting this, a lot of the content of my work progresses intuitively. Through the illogical and bizarre I find my way to understanding the world better.

My satisfaction in what I do is that I can present, and explore, areas through art, which I would otherwise struggle to express with words. Therefore, what you see, and understand of my art is probably better than any explanation I can give.

The style of my work varies greatly and I tend to have several pieces on the go at once. This allows me to gain distance by leaving something to come back to later, and to work on the appropriate picture dependant on my mood.

I use a variety of mediums, building them up to suit the texture and depth of colour desired in different areas of the picture I am working on. I like mediums that have a soft dreamy look about them, combined with contrasting, strong, bold lines and colours.

My childhood ambition was to be an artist. Later on I found myself at conflict with my aspirations. Concerned about making a living in such a competitive field, I began to explore different paths. Eventually, I would say that I didn’t so much choose to be an artist, but felt a desperate need to be so. My work is a personal exploration, through which I find my passion, my frustration, and my empowerment.

Biography

Born in Lincoln in 1983. Laura remembers growing up in a flat landscape with little but a collection of housing estates. Perhaps this is what caused her to develop such a big imagination and curious mind. With parents in the picture framing trade, she realised her passion for art at an early age, and spent most of her childhood drawing on the back of a never ending batch of faulty Renoir prints that her parents had cut up for her and her siblings to use the paper.

In 2003 Laura moved to Bristol to complete a Degree in Fine Art. She now lives and works in Devon. She loves travelling, and in 2009 travelled from Kenya to Cape Town with her fiancé on a motorbike. She feels her experiences feed her creativity.

Laura doesn’t paint a literal copy of what she sees; however she does paint what she sees and feels. With an inquisitive personality and thirst for new experiences Laura can at times be hard to pin down and her work resembles this.