Q&A – Belinda Pearce
Self-taught or art school?
Although many many moons ago I studied art and history of art at school to ‘A’ and ‘AS’ level, and I passed those exams as a passionate ‘budding artist;’ but, perversely, I went on to Law school,.. couldn't have been more different!
So strictly I guess the accurate answer is ‘self-taught,’ and as far as my current project is concerned I’m learning all the time through experimentation, I’m still teaching myself!
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My kitchen doubles as my studio, or rather, my studio doubles as my kitchen!
I have a 4th floor flat with a balcony leading from the kitchen; it is the top floor and, being north-facing, I am blessed with unimpeded light streaming in all day. As much as possible I leave the door to the balcony open for even more light, and I paint to the sound of the parakeets in the high branches parallel to my balcony; it is sheer bliss!
What or who inspires your art?
My Daughter.
Firstly, indirectly; if it weren’t for my Daughter taking a GCSE in art, I may not have returned to my schoolgirl passion. After the exam, the presence of her discarded paint pots etc was just too tempting. I started dabbing and daubing, ostensibly as an activity to occupy me while I waited for her teenage late-night or early-morning ‘please pick me up’ calls, but then it became my release valve as an antithesis to my daytime legal work.
She has since become the direct inspiration for my current theme: I conceived the more theatric looking characters after basing the first on one of my Daughter’s rôles...
plus I use her cast-off false eyelashes and her redundant stage lipsticks as embellishments on my original portraits!
How would you describe your style?
Hmmm, after much deliberation I’m finding it somewhat difficult to pigeon-hole my style, despite there being some 25 or so artistic styles and art movements from which to categorise...
I’ve settled on a smidgen avant-garde combined with a touch popart and a hint cartoonish.
Do you have any studio rituals?
I do…. Coffee!
Copious cups of coffee!
It is my caffeine love (or addiction) that fuels my painting, on many levels! From the grinding of beans for the ceremony of preparing a cafetiere to sustain me, to the lingering aroma; coffee in some shape or form accompanies me at every stage of my creative process.
What are you working on currently?
A selection of…. coffee-infused creations!
Born out of a simple inadvertent mistake, which probably many artists identify with... I absent-mindedly dipped my paintbrush in my coffee cup instead of the water; I was attempting a watercolour portrait at the time, a commission, and I rather liked the muted effect the coffee had on the black. I experimented using the coffee exclusively, and the result....
I had stumbled upon a personal Nirvana: my 2 loves, coffee and art, dovetailing!
I couldn’t resist following up with more faces painted in ‘coffeecolours’ as opposed to watercolours, launching what I, jokingly, called my ‘Caffeine Society' Collection. The name stuck, it encouraged me to create a caffeinated ‘social circle' and continues to dictate the personalities of the characters in it: including frothy cappuccinos, haughty americanos and strong espressos!
Self-taught or art school?
Although many many moons ago I studied art and history of art at school to ‘A’ and ‘AS’ level, and I passed those exams as a passionate ‘budding artist;’ but, perversely, I went on to Law school,.. couldn't have been more different!
So strictly I guess the accurate answer is ‘self-taught,’ and as far as my current project is concerned I’m learning all the time through experimentation, I’m still teaching myself!
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My kitchen doubles as my studio, or rather, my studio doubles as my kitchen!
I have a 4th floor flat with a balcony leading from the kitchen; it is the top floor and, being north-facing, I am blessed with unimpeded light streaming in all day. As much as possible I leave the door to the balcony open for even more light, and I paint to the sound of the parakeets in the high branches parallel to my balcony; it is sheer bliss!
What or who inspires your art?
My Daughter.
Firstly, indirectly; if it weren’t for my Daughter taking a GCSE in art, I may not have returned to my schoolgirl passion. After the exam, the presence of her discarded paint pots etc was just too tempting. I started dabbing and daubing, ostensibly as an activity to occupy me while I waited for her teenage late-night or early-morning ‘please pick me up’ calls, but then it became my release valve as an antithesis to my daytime legal work.
She has since become the direct inspiration for my current theme: I conceived the more theatric looking characters after basing the first on one of my Daughter’s rôles...
plus I use her cast-off false eyelashes and her redundant stage lipsticks as embellishments on my original portraits!
How would you describe your style?
Hmmm, after much deliberation I’m finding it somewhat difficult to pigeon-hole my style, despite there being some 25 or so artistic styles and art movements from which to categorise...
I’ve settled on a smidgen avant-garde combined with a touch popart and a hint cartoonish.
Do you have any studio rituals?
I do…. Coffee!
Copious cups of coffee!
It is my caffeine love (or addiction) that fuels my painting, on many levels! From the grinding of beans for the ceremony of preparing a cafetiere to sustain me, to the lingering aroma; coffee in some shape or form accompanies me at every stage of my creative process.
What are you working on currently?
A selection of…. coffee-infused creations!
Born out of a simple inadvertent mistake, which probably many artists identify with... I absent-mindedly dipped my paintbrush in my coffee cup instead of the water; I was attempting a watercolour portrait at the time, a commission, and I rather liked the muted effect the coffee had on the black. I experimented using the coffee exclusively, and the result....
I had stumbled upon a personal Nirvana: my 2 loves, coffee and art, dovetailing!
I couldn’t resist following up with more faces painted in ‘coffeecolours’ as opposed to watercolours, launching what I, jokingly, called my ‘Caffeine Society' Collection. The name stuck, it encouraged me to create a caffeinated ‘social circle' and continues to dictate the personalities of the characters in it: including frothy cappuccinos, haughty americanos and strong espressos!