Emma Lock on finding community in an often solitary practice
Emma is a big believer in finding a community as an artist. We speak to her about her thoughts on this and find out how her impressionistic paintings come into being.
She describes herself as an introvert, creating away in her two-by-three-metre studio. But Emma says it is still important to her to find a community.
“Being an artist can be quite a solitary practice and way of living. I myself love being alone. However, finding a group of like-minded people, chatting through the questions and doubts, asking for help and offering advice has been really rewarding for me and my practice.”
Based in Suffolk, United Kingdom, Emma has always been drawn to abstract and impressionistic work. She’d always dabbled in making and creating, but it was around two years ago that she decided to pick up the paintbrush and take the art seriously.
“I took part in the 100-day project as a means of finding a way back to myself and my art. This is when I first gave abstract painting a go and I have never looked back.”
“Finding a group of like-minded people, chatting through the questions and doubts, asking for help and offering advice has been really rewarding for me and my practice.”
Emma’s work often starts by gathering inspiration, reflecting on past work and playing in her sketchbooks until she finds something that she would like to explore in a new piece or series.
“I find this time to be both satisfying and restful in some ways, but on the other hand it can also be frustrating.
“Then I prep and prime my panels until I have clean white surfaces to work on. I know a lot of artists don’t like a white surface to start from as
it can be intimidating, but for me it’s like a breath of fresh air, it is a sense of a freedom to create anything.”
Emma takes in all of her thoughts and ideas and covers the canvas with what inspires her – the organic shapes and textures of nature.
Colours from wax crayons, paint and acrylic ink start to flow and fill to the edges of her artworks.
“And then that’s it, I’m lost in the best way possible until I stop painting.”
Suffolk, United Kingdom
