Cliff Walk

UK based artist Jay Seabrook prints images inspired by English landscapes and weather.

Seabrook is a member of the Leicester Print Workshop, where she both creates her own work as well as teaches.

In her own words

I have always had a love of painting and drawing and spent endless hours on my bedroom floor as a teenager doodling and drawing. I left school in Leicester to go to North Staffs Polytechnic to do a foundation art course in the 1970’s. It was such a shock to me – living away from home for the first time and, having spent my school years at a very academic all girls grammar school, art college was a million miles from the structure I was used to. I was so naïve – on the first night in my student flat I couldn’t understand why there was no hot water in the tap – I had come from such a comfortable home I had always assumed that the Water Board provided both types of water – hot and cold! A rude awakening, so that, and the distraction of my boyfriend resulted in not a lot of concentration on art. I did get offered a place on a degree course in Manchester, but I was in love and didn’t want to leave Stoke on Trent and my boyfriend. I took a job and started on the road to accountancy – following in the footsteps of my father. My career has allowed me to pursue my art and I am the true embodiment of a “creative accountant”. Accountant by day, artist by night.

I now live in Rutland, belong to the Leicester Society of Artists and I’m a very active member of the excellent Leicester Print Workshop. I have a press in my studio at home (built by my Great Great Grandfathers company – Hughes & Kimber) and I use this and the Leicester Print Workshop facilities to produce my work. This year I have some new events on the calendar – I am taking part in the Rutland Open Studios event for the first time and also the Brighton Art Fair and the Windsor Contemporary Art Fair.

Up to the Ridge

What are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on a series of still life screen prints – a short diversion from my main pursuit of collagraph landscapes. I spent three weeks in London last summer in an apartment full of Russian art – mostly still life studies. These vast dark oil paintings have inspired me to take an alternative view. My small still life prints are vibrant with spring colours. I’ve been honing my technique with paper stencils and then exposing a screen just to add black line detail at the end. I’m also working on some collagraphs printed onto Japanese paper which I am going to paint and screen print onto. A series of landscapes that will eventually fit together to make a big panorama.

Do you feel that artists see the world differently from other people?
I can’t say whether artists view the world differently to other people, I have no idea how other people think, all I know is that I am always aware of colour and I take a great interest in everything that is going on around me – so much inspiration, so little time. I am never one to sit still, I have a million ideas in my head that I am keen to express. I remember colours very well so I guess my view of the world – whatever it is – is in full technicolour at least!

Which contemporaries would you list amongst your personal favourites and why?
I love the work of Hughie O’Donoghue and Norman Ackroyd – for the dark moods they often portray. I believe Norman Ackroyd also has a Hughes and Kimber press in his studio. Also Ernesto Canovas – I like his colours and the gloss finish – it’s work I wish I had done. Really atmospheric and has a dreamlike quality.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
My plan is to be living on the coast – probably in or near to Looe in Cornwall. I expect to be painting great big canvases of the sea and producing magnificent printwork from my enormously spacious studio.

Seabrook currently lives in Rutland, United Kingdom

All images courtesy of Jay Seabrook | www.jayseabrook.co.uk

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