LOUISE BROWN The Lincolnshire painter and sculptor whose work has incredible depth and character.

CERAMICS & PAINTINGS BY LOUISE BROWN

Nature and whimsy combine to great effect in the work of Louise Brown, the Lincolnshire sculptor and artist whose work is on sale in over 250 shops and galleries across the country...

FINALLY! Louise Brown has a ‘proper job.’ Growing up in Kirton near Boston and having been educated at the town’s High School, a young Louise reached a point where she either needed to pursue her love of art or as someone once advised – with good intentions, we suppose – get a ‘proper job.’ Admittedly the pursuit of art as a career is a less secure vocation than being behind a desk – at least initially – but once you’ve established yourself in the profession, it’s every bit the fulfilling career that Louise craved. “I studied radiography at St George’s Hospital on Long Leas Road in Lincoln and spent 30 years working in the medical profession, at Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital. It was a really rewarding career and I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to help people and to support those in A&E and on the wards who work so hard for their patients. It was rewarding but not exactly creatively fulfilling... there’s not much scope for producing artistic images using an X-Ray machine, as you can imagine... the medics are a bit more concerned with anatomy than producing a creative image!” “I’d always loved visiting galleries and I’d kept painting for pleasure, but a real turning point was when I approached a publisher, The Art Group, to enquire if they’d represent me commercially... which they did!” That was in 2010, and to say that there was a tremendous reaction to Louise’s work is rather an understatement. Soon, her happy and prolific labours were rewarded not only by recognition of her signature style by some of the country’s top galleries, but also by some pretty enormous names in retail too. Louise’s biggest outlet for her work now is UK retailer The Range, which has around 200 shops and stocks the artist’s work on framed prints, canvases and cushions. Each year, her work sells in quantities of not just hundreds or thousands, but tens of thousands, through that single retailer alone. For most artists, though, there’s usually a question of whether to pursue recognition through commercial volume or to produce art in more exclusive quantities. Happily, for Louise, she’s able to satisfy both ends of the spectrum as a commercial artist.>>

Individual Commissions

>> Able to work on commissions as well as producing work for her publisher, Louise discovered another dimension – literally, another dimension – to her talent in 2003 when she attended The End Room near Sleaford, for some pottery classes, in 2003. The class introduced her to wheel-based pottery – vases and so on – and Louise soon found herself ‘at one with the clay.’ She wanted to combine the craft of pottery with her enjoyment of representing the natural world, and so began to experiment with sculptures of animals, figurative and anthropomorphic. Today, Louise reckons her division of time is a bit more biased towards sculptures, partly because her publisher already has access to a large back catalogue of work, and because she’s so well-established in the market, but also because sculpture is a good deal more time-consuming compared to her canvas based work. “You can produce a piece Louise Brown accepts commissions “Some galleries are happy of canvas-based and then from fans of her figurative and to tell you what they want license prints either in whimsical canvas and sculpture-based works, as well as offering original so I can produce ranges limited runs for galleries canvases. For more information see specifically for each gallery, or in greater quantities for www.louisebrownart.co.uk or call 01205 whereas some are keen to larger retailers.” 722931. give an artist or a sculptor “It’s more difficult, though, to more of an open brief.” produce multiple versions of a sculpture, so “The Red Dot Gallery saw my style and those pieces are the ones that galleries are discussed a range of dogs sitting on boxes. I keen to stock. I remember the first gallery think the first was Salty Sea Dog, sitting that expressed an interest in my sculpture. on a crate and styled as if he was a sailor. We were away in Norfolk for my 50th Another in the series was a French bulldog, birthday, and I was enjoying looking around styled accordingly. They sold well!” the Red Dot Gallery in Holt.” “I spend a lot of time nature-gazing, which “A little on impulse I approached the owner tends to feed my imagination, and occasionand to my delight he jumped at the chance to ally I see a photograph or other visual online include my work in the gallery. He’s still a which can give me inspiration if I approach client of mine today, along with The Really the photographer and as permission for Very Nice Gallery in Bury St Edmunds, The its use. But I don’t like just producing a very Cloud Galleries in Brighton, Acorn in Pock- literal copy. I like my work to have a back lington and Heart Gallery in Hebden Bridge.” story, lots of personality and whimsy.” >>

>> “For my canvas-based work, I tend to stick to acrylics, complete a rough sketch in pencil and then build up detail on successive layers, blocking in colour then adding more refinement. I’m fairly quick but it still takes about two days to produce something I’m happy with. After that, I’m fairly disciplined and don’t tend to go back and make constant tweaks.”

“The largest work I produce measures about 30” x 20”, for which I’d charge £500 for an original. I’d love to work on a few more bespoke commissions, although I’m really busy so I don’t actively promote them... but I should because they start from about £500 which for a one-off piece of bespoke art is, I think, really accessible.”

“Sculptures are a little more complicated, because when you’re working from a visual or you have an idea in your head, you can only see one side of the subject, so your understanding of anatomy for each species of animals has to be sound.”

“If something isn’t quite right, even if you don’t know what, you’re still aware that something isn’t correct, so there’s nowhere to hide when it comes to realism, whether you’re creating a representation of that animal or one of my anthropomorphic pieces. But in the case of the latter, each animal has a personality which I love to bring out, which definitely gives me something to work with.”

“Hares are the most popular subject, probably because they’ve lots of character and personality, they’re ubiquitous in the countryside and they’re so alert and always seem to look poised. But dogs, foxes and horses will probably be the next most popular subjects.” “Sculptures are made with an underlying framework of paper to form an armature onto which I press stoneware clay, building up layers of musculature. It takes me around a day to sculpt each piece, then they have to dry for a week before being given a bisque firing. After that they cool for 24 hours.”

“Once they’re cool I use underglaze to dye the clay, painting it on and building up layers of colour. That colour has to be fired for about 10 hours to bake it in, and I use a glossy underglaze to add shine to an animal’s eyes.”

“When you’re young it’s common for people to tell you to keep your dreams close to your heart but to be realistic about your career.”

“I’ve always really enjoyed working on paintings and on sculptures, but to find appreciation from people for my work and to do this as a ‘proper job’ is a dream come true!” n

Find Out More: Louise Brown is the Lincolnshire artist who works both on canvas and as a sculptor producing works of realism and quirky anthropomorphic pieces. Louise’s work is available to view, purchase and you can commission exclusive work at www.louisebrownart.co.uk or by calling 01205 722931.