Details
| First Name | Liz |
| Last Name | Fraser |
| Username | lizfraser |
| Region | Edinburgh & The Lothians |
| Disciplines | Drawing, Illustration, Painting, Photography, Printmaking |
| Themes | Botanical, Environment |
Statement
| Statement | In my work I try to capture the beauty of the natural world through the close observation of colour, structure and movement found primarily in plants. I’m also fascinated by the complex markings found on petals, leaves and stems. I enjoy recording their subtle changes of colour and form over time, in an attempt to better understand their complex life cycles, from birth to death and even their hidden life underground as seeds or bulbs. I’m interested in the individual stories of plants told through the history of plant collection and how they were transported across the world, their folklore and use in early herbals, and the fact that their beauty also has the hidden ability to heal or kill. Plants have been used in celebrations and flowers have been tokens of love, sorrow, and joy throughout human history. When I paint an individual plant I try to bring some of this knowledge into the painting. As a hands-on gardener, I grow many of the plants that I like to paint. This means that I can observe them at all stages of their life cycle and observe their pollinators and predators and marvel at the complex mechanisms in place to either attract through scent, or repel using chemical warfare. I’m particularly drawn to scented plants, whether pleasant or pungent! I work in a variety of traditional media such as watercolour, egg tempera, and acrylic. In 2020, however, during lockdown, I discovered cold wax and oil. Abstract artists Rebecca Crowell and Jerry McLaughlin presented their cold wax workshops online during the pandemic and I joined their lessons and demonstrations to find out more. Suddenly, all the other materials that I’d been exploring made sense: they could all be incorporated into a cold wax painting and become something much bigger. This new media has shifted my work dramatically from traditional detailed botanical studies on a white background towards something more complex. I can now bring more of a sense of history and expression to the painting through the build-up of complex layers and scraping back through these to reveal what’s hidden below. I’ve been influenced by many wonderful artists over the years, but recently Rebecca Crowell, Jerry McLaughlin, Victoria Crowe, Sylvia von Hartmann, Sylvia Wishart, Anne Redpath and botanical artist Raymond Booth have probably had the biggest impact on my most recent work. |
Biography
| Biography | Short biography I studied Illustration and Printmaking at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, graduating in 1983 with a BA Hons. Travelled to South Africa and worked there from 1984 to 1996 as a freelance botanical and wildlife artist, exhibiting through the Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg. I returned to the UK in 1996. In 1998-99 I lived in Seychelles, working for BirdLife International as their Artist in Residence, monitoring the Seychelles Magpie-robin, one of the rarest birds in the world. In 2005 I attained a PGCE from Moray House, University of Edinburgh and taught in a secondary school in the Scottish Borders from 2007-2019 as an Additional Needs Teacher (working with children with special needs) and as a mainstream Art teacher. In 2011 I illustrated The Smallest Kingdom Plants and Plant collectors At The Cape Of Good Hope, published by The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Publishers. I recently moved to East Lothian and started a small indi publishing company, The Singing Magpie Press, with my husband, Mike Fraser. We are currently working on our first ebook.
Memberships SSA Cold Wax Academy.
Awards
Works in Private and Corporate collections
Recent /Forthcoming exhibitions
Books my work is featured in
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