Revolve Gallery

Lu Hudson

Lu Hudson is a Manchester based artist who specialises in gouache paintings on canvas and watercolour paper. Observation and spacial awareness are key in her colour pieces. Lu's work is of an atmospheric nature mainly deriving from landscapes.

Based in Manchester she uses her surroundings as inspiration, her paintings from landscapes and her other drawing work from the trivial and incidental things that aesthetically please her.

Background

Lu was born in Middlesbrough in 1985. After attending Cleveland College of Art & Design, came a surprise move to Manchester. Whilst at Manchester Metropolitan University studying a BA in Textiles, she fell in love with the City although kept tight hold of her roots and this features throughout her work. Graduating in 2007 her Degree Show made a statement, focusing on her drawing and Fine Art.

In early 2007, as part of group exhibition 'Oxford Road – A Visual Interpretation', held in All Saints Gallery at MMU, Lu showed a piece of her Manchester based artwork . Since graduating Lu has continued to sell her work as well as entering pieces into competitions. Artist Peter Saville and Designer Wayne Hemmingway were exposed to her work when she reached Top 5 in the Young Artist of the Year competition run by Mooch Art Gallery in late 2008. Her work has also been featured on Craig Atkinsons 'This Is A Good Thing' blog, as well as on flyers promoting 'Noise Festival', an on-line arts festival showcasing fresh new artists under 25.

Inspiration

“The ever changing environment of everyday life is a big source of inspiration within my work. I am fascinated by the little things, the insignificant and the incidental. As well as the personal, concealed and emotional feelings provoked by our surroundings. Layering of colours features in my work due to the concealing and revealing hints of colours that I seek and find in dfferent environments. These elements all trigger something in me. The beauty of observation is a constant awakening to the changes around us and I wish to share my insight through my work.”

Spacial awareness also features in Lu's work, she reacts to the space around her via journalling with written word and sketches. She also studies places in series' to really encapsulate her environment., focusing on the 'intricacies of everyday life whilst exploring the abstract notion of this'. Being passionate about her home in the North East and her life in the North West, Lu explores comfort in the form of colour and the hidden familiarity that keeps us feeling safe.

To canvas

“For my paintings, I begin by studying an environment. I will stand and observe. I feed from the activity and the sounds, but I try and look a little closer, a little deeper. Through preliminary sketches, photographs and written word, I use these to help recollect feelings and the atmosphere of the environment. I then draw up loose faint sketches and then begin my piece, mixing my colours on my canvas/paper as I work. This is a fundamental aspect of my work as I believe as well as hidden features of a space/scene there are an array of concealed colours which catch my eye, and in mixing as I work these flashses of colour emulate the way I see them the first time around.

These hidden elements and colours provoke something in me. I try to encapsulate what is stirred in me from each environment onto canvas, via colour and the suggestion of subtle marks. Therefore leaving the eye of the beholder to take what they wish from my interpretation.”