About
Born in Somerset, England; Christine began painting at local art classes in 1974, not long after leaving school and starting work. Lessons were mainly in oils or watercolours and she chose the oils.
There have been very few gaps in her painting activity since then. The loss of the local group in 1982 meant an extended period of working entirely alone; other than taking part in local shows, she just followed her own path. This included trying other media, other subjects, reading and looking at other painters' work. In 1988 she was encouraged to try soft pastels, following a gradual decline in the original enthusiasm for oils. The immediacy of the medium---no brushes, no wet media, no drying times---provided some unexpected freedom from procedures and contributed to a gradual raising of her own standard.
Around 1997 Christine began to explore floral subjects, trying them in all the media she had in store at that time, and working with subject-matter available immediately to her, in the garden. Pastels rapidly came to the fore and she spent quite a few years producing flower themes almost exclusively with them.
The pictures are rarely large; most being 12 to 16 inches or less. During the coronavirus turmoil, Christine spent many hours on many new pictures, all being displayed online thanks to the total absence of physical exhibitions. Although pastels will be priority, there will also be smaller oils and even acrylic where the subject suits. "I do not want to spend hours labouring over a single picture. That is why I do not normally work very large. A working-session is often just a couple of hours; I like to complete now, if I can, in three sessions or less. Otherwise the initial stimulus for painting the picture gets lost. I have no particular commitments; I choose my own themes and take my own path. I have to make the most of what time still offers; to discover what I can create, irrespective of whether it's saleable or not. The whole exercise is a form of inner discovery, limited only by time available to one's self. It can also take many years to simply build the confidence to go and do what you wish, rather than sticking with what people expect you to do. Sometimes I paint quite small, another time a few of those ideas might translate to something a little larger. I have many experimental pieces of various sizes. It is possible to work a session and have little to show for it, but the next day another session may produce something really good. The important thing to do is, as I once read somewhere, to simply show up at the pastel-box and DO something."
Christine also now produces small abstract and experimental paintings; these being started as an antidote to some of the restrictions caused by pastel-work, such as the medium's dry delicate nature and its tendency to favour more naturalistic subjects. These are placed at a separate website.