Corinne Loxton

In Conversation with Art2Muse Gallery Director, Katrina Hampton

5 June 2015

We recently caught up for coffee with Corinne Loxton, a Blue Mountains-based artist who works with quiet energy and focus to produce ethereal landscapes that seem to transcend the busyness and noise of everyday life in the 21st Century.

When did you begin art-making?

Ever since I was a young child I have engaged in being creative. My Grandmother taught me to 'see' the natural world with the eyes of an artist. She showed me how to use my hands to make, to create things of beauty from traditional art materials or the simplest found objects such as leaves and berries, shells, and twine. I understood from her that to live my life fully, I would need to connect deeply with nature and respond to my impulse to create.

And now you’re a full-time artist?

Yes. I have been continuously developing my art practice since leaving art college in 1992, although there have been some pauses for child-rearing and other life events.

Where do you find inspiration?

As I said earlier, I learned to ‘see’ and experience the natural world when I was just a child. I spent a great deal of time outside, on or near mountains and water, experiencing constant changes in feel, sound, texture, shape and colour. The natural world became a place of retreat for me - my place to be free, to commune, reflect and be re-energized. Now I constantly draw on nature’s processes to teach me truths about my life and the human condition. This is what motivates and inspires me to paint.

What’s your favourite material to work with?

Definitely oil paint on canvas. I love the malleability of oil paint as a medium - how I can work the paint into and across the surface of the slightly rough canvas, blending, working wet on wet or scumbling. I have a visceral reaction to the smell of the paint, its luscious buttery texture and glistening appearance. I am constantly intrigued by the possibilities of the medium and especially the relationship between transparent and opaque pigments.

What can you tell us about your work? What is your process?

Initially, I respond to ‘events’ I experience in nature, often recording them with photographs, which can then provide the source material in the studio. I work on many canvases at once, moving between works depending on my state of mind or whether the work needs to dry or rest. The images are built up slowly, over brightly coloured grounds, with many layers of transparent oil paint. I strive to create visual vibration and movement throughout the work with this layering of brushwork. At a certain point in the process, I put aside the source photograph and rest the painting somewhere in the studio so that it sits in my peripheral vision. While this is happening I am able to reflect on the work and respond intuitively to what I think of as the painting’s voice – what the painting is telling me it needs to be finished. Finally, I title the work by recalling and putting words to the keynote of the feeling that the original experience evoked in me and I sign the paintings on the back so that my signature doesn’t become a distracting element in the work.

What are your goals?

To stay the course of being a practising artist and constantly strive for excellence. I want to make work that touches people deeply, offering a passage to stillness, awareness and imaginative drifting.

Do you have any upcoming projects?

Yes, I have several exhibitions to prepare for in the next six months. The first is at Art2Muse Gallery in Double Bay Sydney in June. Then I have shows in Melbourne in October at Bird’s Gallery in Kew and later at Braemar Gallery in Springwood, in the Blue Mountains. The Braemar Gallery show will be comprised of paintings made outside, directly from the landscape. In conjunction with this exhibition, I will conduct outdoor painting workshops and a studio open day.