Laurie Avadis

I paint using pastel chalk and oil pastel, ink, salt, watercolour, acrylic and mixed media combinations. I paint on paper, and the pages of the antique French books left to me by my family. My subjects will present problems, clues, wrong turns and undiscovered beauty. I use my fingers and blot and change and imagine. I paint in my studios in Felpham overlooking the sea and in my home in a remote field in the Loire Valley. These are very familiar landscape that holds memories, change constantly and offer endless possibilities. I sketch when I travel and when I return. I wonder what will happen if I do this? So I’m dripping and scraping as well as brushing, and I’m blotting and masking. Usually, I deal with some formal problems suggested by the subject. I re-work and over paint; I hang them in the house and live with them for a bit, and if they get on my nerves they go back to the studio; if they don’t, they’re done. Painting like mine, which is basically mark-making, shows evidence of time and occupies space like an object.

I studied fine art in City Lit in Covent Garden. Whilst living in Richmond and Walton on Thames I exhibited in Surrey and had a major exhibition of work in Burgh House in Hampstead.

Since moving to Felpham in July 2023 I have become resident artist in Sage and Salt Studio in Petersfield. I have exhibited in Pier Road Gallery Littlehampton, Artisan Gallery in Chichester, Oxmarket Gallery in Chichester, PO10 in Emsworth, Brighton & Hove Council Art Show, Chichester Open Studios. I will be taking part in Bognor open studios, the Arundel art trail and exhibiting further in Artisan Shoppe in Wittering and PO10.

My painting – ‘Dancing with my cat by Brighton Pier’ won the people’s vote in the January 2024 Blues competition at the Pier Road Gallery in Littlehampton. My painting – ‘Sitting on the beach in Felpham with my cat’ was used as the cover art Cerasus Poetry Magazine – February 2024. I was the Artist of the month in the Felpham in Focus magazine for April 2024. My painting – ‘The High Sails’ was used as cover art for Bersted in Focus magazine for May 2024

Laurie Avadis