Rosie Jarvis
Brought up in the Surrey countryside, where I learned the names of the trees and flowers I then went on to train as a teacher in Brighton with art as my main subject. During this time I was privileged to interview Patrick Heron in his Zennor home which influenced my love of colour.
I find the patterns, lyrical lines and colours in the British countryside and their interplay with light intriguing. The homeliness of the patchwork land, with the details of “field furniture” are captured in my work. I pay attention to lifting the profile of the fields around us, who cannot speak for themselves yet essentially provide for us and livestock. We give accolades to celebrities forgetting “the humble field”. Not only useful but beautiful, fields portray the art of human activity on the landscape present and historic. My work has a naïve rural feel, combining my passion for colour and the countryside.
I always loved art but only had the time to paint in the last eleven years and am mainly self-taught. I am happiest when sketching landscapes on site out in the country, observing first hand, then reworking drawings in the studio across several pages. Many views are expansive, but sometimes I zoom in to the specific detail of a few fields. I usually start and let the pictures happen, painting intuitively from my close observation and visual colour memory. Using acrylic paint, inks and sometimes pigments on cotton canvas, and more recently flax, once I have started painting the palette becomes limited to maybe five or six colours. I want to capture the quintessential qualities of the English fields and landscape through the seasons.
I’m a member of Northants and Rutland Open Studios and Kettering and District Arts Society and studied on a mentoring course at Newlyn School of Art for a year 2022-2023. I love networking with other artists and often arrange small group meetings to discuss our work.
Instagram: @rosiejarvisartist
