Pat Southern-Pearce
My 5 years at Art School in Burnley, training as a painter, with lithography in support, gave me a strong base of practise and experience that I shall be forever grateful for. We were fortunate enough to have a new painting tutor join us early on: fresh from the Welsh valleys, bags-of-energy and uber-talented. He had us out sketching every week, in all weathers, even in snow, with easels, in oils and gouache. We were taught to be free, to value everything we did and every week our work was propped up and critiqued. We kept a sketchbook too. It was a part of us and all of this has stayed with me.
My sketches are responses to the feel of a place, the atmosphere, the cold, the quietness, the happiness of a crowded beach…not just lines and marks on paper. I draw intuitively and quickly, working all over a page at once and it grows. If I have a colour in my hand I’ll ask “Where else can I see it?” After a lifetime of drawing on white, 6 years ago I moved onto toned backgrounds. What a revelation! So much more fun and fascinating….
My inspirations & interests
I am inspired, always, by shapes against the sky, sea shores, wild places and mountain tops, looking across. I love to wander the garden and have begun to grow things to eat during Covid. I love eating outdoors in the summer with a glass or two, and travelling to new countries in the company of creatives, drinking in life there.
Artists who have influenced me throughout my life are Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Arthur Rackham, Franz Kline, Hundertwasser, Bridget Riley, Anthony Frost, Wilhelmina Barnes Graham, Kiah Kiean Chng (KK) and Jan Gardner.
Key achievements
My sketches are responses to the feel of a place, the atmosphere, the cold, the quietness, the happiness of a crowded beach…not just lines and marks on paper. I draw intuitively and quickly, working all over a page at once and it grows. If I have a colour in my hand I’ll ask “Where else can I see it?” After a lifetime of drawing on white, 6 years ago I moved onto toned backgrounds. What a revelation! So much more fun and fascinating….
My inspirations & interests
I am inspired, always, by shapes against the sky, sea shores, wild places and mountain tops, looking across. I love to wander the garden and have begun to grow things to eat during Covid. I love eating outdoors in the summer with a glass or two, and travelling to new countries in the company of creatives, drinking in life there.
Artists who have influenced me throughout my life are Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Arthur Rackham, Franz Kline, Hundertwasser, Bridget Riley, Anthony Frost, Wilhelmina Barnes Graham, Kiah Kiean Chng (KK) and Jan Gardner.
Key achievements
- Commissioned drawings for a BBC documentary on the Lancashire Witches
- Arts Council funded 3 year residency in 3 linked primary schools
- Group exhibitions in Moscow and Venice
- Urban Sketchers tutor at Symposiums in Manchester, Chicago and Amsterdam
- Workshops in Australia, America and Amsterdam sponsored by Stillman&Birn
- Commissioned drawings for a series of Sketchbook Covers by Clairefontaine
- Sketches/ spreads in a number of books on sketching & perspective
- Book "Art in Junior Education HMSO” Number 1 of 7 schools of excellence in UKArt
- Booklet “Approaches to Drawing” Chapter 1 - Observational Drawing for Lancs CC
- Book "Art in the Classroom” Pindar Graphics for non specialists