Gwyneth Couchman

Gwyneth is a North Wales based artist she studied Foundation Art at Bangor then attended Westminster University in Illustration gaining a B.A.(hons).

Inspired by her native landscapes her work is not aways a strict pictorial image of a location but often comes from a spontaneous reaction to the environment through an often unplanned process, as the work develops and reveals itself.

As an artist I am lucky enough to live in the beautiful Machno valley and its ever-evolving landscape. Since moving there in 1982 it continues to feed my inspiration, my muse as it were.

My art was, until 2020, purely representational both in landscapes and portraits, though abstract art always fascinated me, then during lockdown I took an online abstract art course which is the art journey I am now exploring.

My paintings are of places special to me and based on photographs or sketches I have done on location where I work intuitively which gives the work a degree abstraction . Back in the studio I usually begin with no plan or intention in mind, other than having chosen a colour palette and a location in mind I suspect these colours reflect my mood at the time. I like to add layer upon layer, sometimes removing as much paint as I lay down, until something emerges that resonates with my thinking brain. Sometimes what emerges pleases me; sometimes it doesn't – in which case, I start over!

I work mainly with acrylic paint, sometimes incorporating other media, such as collage, ink, pencil and pastels. I began my art making by experimenting on paper but soon found that I love to scratch and scrape into paint and sand back surfaces, to generate a 'backstory' for each painting, so now I work mainly on wood and canvas.

Why do I paint? I paint because painting enables me to access and to express a part of myself that feels inaccessible and inexpressible through other means of communication. While I'm sometimes unsure about what a particular painting might be 'saying' (and am happy to leave interpretation to others), I do have a sense that painting is a way for me to connect my inner world with the outer world.

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