Lucy Augé’s exhibition at the Garden Museum depicted the often overlooked beauty found in nature using ink and artisan made paper selected to reflect the season she is working in.
Her exhibition focused on the ephemeral qualities that lie in shadows cast by trees. “I am looking to show those stolen moments in time where a shadow appears and then disappears, never to be seen in the same way again”.
Lucy’s style is inspired by the simplicity of Asian art, and she uses a thick Chinese brush and inks. Continuing in this style, Lucy works from a Japanese summerhouse, inspired by the open countryside, surrounding her.
Lucy’s aim is to highlight the everyday in nature. Each season Lucy creates a new block of work with a different inspiration. The block of work in this exhibition is dedicated to wind blowing through the trees and the subtle changes this movement makes on the fallen shadow.
The works on display was from winter 2017 and spring 2018 where, due to the cold snap, some pieces were painted in the snow. “The snow created a perfect white backdrop to photograph then paint, as the sun was high and cast a crisp outline’.
Lucy’s preferred methods is to paint en plein air and in sync with the season, and because of this, the paintings take on an ephemeral quality as the subject is ever evolving as she captures it. ‘I am an observer waiting for nature to present to me what it wants me to paint, and with these shadows which are so abstract at times, it has evolved my work into a flirtation with abstraction.’
Lucy’s exhibition is split across two areas, showing eight pieces, many of which are studies created in Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire.