Poppy James

“She is fascinated and excited by the support surface which she finds almost as inspiring as the subject matter.”

Poppy’s atmospheric images are simplified and distilled to embody an essential sense of place. They vary from being dreamy and contemplative to dark and moody. Poppy works within that ancient and broad tradition of looking at a landscape, drawing, making colour notes and combines this with digital photography. The image is then made later in her studio.

Poppy prepares her supports herself usually choosing the irregular surface of muslin or some ‘found’ or quirky support in preference to the perfect canvas. She uses the traditional media of oil, acrylic and particularly egg tempera. She is attracted to egg tempera by its purity, the possibility of building up layers quickly and producing either opaque or ephemeral effects. For the tempera she uses traditional gesso panels but her work is unlike most tempera painters because she exploits the flowing nature of this watery medium. She is fascinated and excited by the support surface which she finds almost as inspiring as the subject matter. She is at her best experimenting with the possibilities of traditional media and playing with paint on sometimes unusual surfaces, in unusual ways and often with unusual results.

view a list of exhibitions