ARTIST PROFILE
GEMMA LESSINGER
If there is one artist who is inspired by the ocean, it’s Gemma Lessinger. Having rediscovered her passion for painting during 2020, Gemma’s love for the everchanging shoreline has now seen her take on a new role as one of Cornwall’s fastest emerging artists. In what has been a time full of uncertainty and gloom, Gemma’s bright, textured and bold works inspired by the Cornish seas have been a welcomed sight. Ten years ago, Gemma moved to Newquay with her husband and whilst immediately mesmerised by the surrounding ocean, it wasn’t until last year during the first lockdown of the pandemic that she found herself returning to her love of painting. “I studied Art & Design at college in Berkshire,” Gemma explains, “and then decided to focus on Fashion Design for my degree... Somewhere along the way of building a career in buying and production, I forgot that I could paint.” In Gemma’s own words, the busyness of life took over and it wasn’t until being forced into lockdown that Gemma found herself with time on her hands. With the urge to bring her love of the sea into her home, she began to paint, “Once I started, I remembered how much I loved to do it and couldn’t stop,” says Gemma, “I began painting wave crests, remembering the crashing waves on my nearby shorelines. Then I decided to change my perspective and painted an aerial view of the shoreline. I love the bird's eye view of shorelines and decided n 56 |
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I wanted to focus on that. Whilst working on each painting I realised I loved texture, and began building it with thick layers of acrylic, then adding sea salt and sand to the paint to get really deep textures. “I think about the type of wave that breaks in a particular place too,” she adds, “whether it’s an infamous surf spot or a calmer, flatter location.” Capturing the rugged nature of Cornwall’s cliff edges juxtaposed with clean stretches of sand and dunes are a big element in Gemma’s work where her texture building processes require a balance of delicacy and fluidity. Photographs and images taken by Gemma with her drone allow her to gain aerial reference for her pieces. Full of depth, texture and movement, Gemma’s paintings are a statement of brilliant blues, frothy whites and sweeping sands that bring the life of the sea straight to the canvas. l To discover more about Gemma and her work visit www.gemmalessinger.com
A @gemmalessingerart
| Volume 2 Issue 64 | February - March 2021
A NEW ART COLLECTIVE CHAMPIONING THE CORNISH SEA Recently, Gemma has taken her love for Cornwall’s artistic communities to a new level, having launched a new, femalelead art collective that brings together fellow creatives and lovers of the ocean. Hyli Creatives are a small group of ocean-inspired artists and makers and with Hyli being the Cornish word for ‘saltwater’ the group have one goal – to celebrate the magnificent aquatic world that surrounds Cornwall each in their own distinctive style. “We all have our own businesses and unique styles, but we want to help one another and inspire other women to discover their creativity,” Gemma explains. “We are planning lots of group projects and events, ways that we can share and highlight our individual styles but also combine them to create some really unique work.” Meet the members and find out about their upcoming events via Instagram @hylicreatives
