Emma Cownie

Joined Artfinder: May 2013

Artworks for sale: 1003

(273)

United Kingdom

Updates from Emma Cownie's studio

  • Featured in Magazine!

    Featured in Magazine!

    I am delighted to say I have been asked by Welsh Coastal Life magazine to submit some coastal paintings to be featured in their magazine. I sent 10 images to give a geographical running order, if you like, from Swansea Bay via Mumbles to Gower, to Tenby and up to Morfa Nefyn.

    12 February 2018
    International Woman's Day Exhibition 2

    International Woman's Day Exhibition 2

    Delighted to see some of my urban minimal paintings on the Off the Wall Art Gallery website. I will be exhibiting in this excellent Cardiff gallery as part of an exhibition celebrating in March.

    12 February 2018
    International Woman's Day Exhibition

    International Woman's Day Exhibition

    Delighted to see some of my people portrait paintings on the Off the Wall Art Gallery website. I will be exhibiting in this excellent Cardiff gallery as part of an exhibition celebrating International Woman's Day in March.

    12 February 2018
    Urban Minimal

    Urban Minimal

    This style of painting is influenced by those American realist painters who paint the quiet, the spacious and the still and revere a certain treatment of light and colour such as Edward Hopper, Jim Holland, John Register, Frank Hobbs as well as by Contemporary Minimalists such as Christopher Benson, Leah Giberson, Tom McKinley, Mitchell, Johnson, Jessica Brilli and Emmett Kerrigan. I aim to bring an American sensibility to a Welsh urban landscape. My “rules” for composition and painting:- No cars No People Bright light. There must be shadows – at diagonals if possible. Simplified forms – there must be little detail in the final painting. I found this the most challenging “rule” to stick to. I wanted to explore the interplay of the geometry of shadows and man-made structures – the tension between the 3D buildings and the 2D shadows.

    15 October 2017
    Urban Minimal

    Urban Minimal

    I have decided on a new project which I am calling “Urban minimalism“. It was initially inspired by the empty streets around where I live in Brynmill, Swansea. In recent years Brynmill has been increasingly taken over by HMOs (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) rented out to the growing population of university students. In the summer months most of the students leave and the local streets which are usually crammed with cars are suddenly empty. I was struck by both the physical empty space as well as the peace they left behind. I wanted to capture this temporary calm in paint. So I started to take lots of photos of the local area with an eye to using them for the basis of paintings. My “rules” for composition and painting No cars No People Bright light. There must be shadows – at diagonals if possible. Simplified forms – there must be little detail in the final painting. I wanted to explore the interplay of the geometry of shadows and man-made structures.

    14 September 2017
    “Cymricana” – Sunshine and Puddles

    “Cymricana” – Sunshine and Puddles

    This painting of a burger van I spotted in Wickes’s (DIY Store) car park in Swansea is part of my “urban minimal” series. I have been influenced by the treatment of light and colour by American realist painters such as Edward Hopper, Jim Holland, John Register, Frank Hobbs as well as by Contemporary minimalists such as Christopher Benson, Leah Giberson, Tom McKinley, Jessica Brilli and Emmett Kerrigan. I aim to bring an American sensibility to a Welsh urban landscape – I half-jokingly call this sensibility “Cymricana” – like Americana only Welsh. Instead of sunshine in a NY diner, its sunshine on burger van surrounded by puddles in a Wickes’ car park.

    31 August 2017
    Art Festival

    Art Festival

    Delighted to say that I will be exhibiting my "urban minimal" work (and words) this October at Inkspot Art Centre, The Old Church, Newport Road/Clifton St, Cardiff as part of the MadeInRoath Festival http://madeinroath.com/ Sun 15 Oct - Sun 22 Oct My exhibition is “Gafnu Cymuned : Hollowed Community” and is inspired by my own community of Brynmill, in Swansea, which has been “hollowed out” by the unrelenting proliferation of student Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs). These sparse streetscapes focus on the summer months each year, when most of the students are absent, leaving this strange transient silence and sudden emptiness. There is an ominous aspect to each of these images and the intruding shadows hint at the transience of this peace.

    31 August 2017
    My Summer Exhibition!

    My Summer Exhibition!

    My Summer Exhibition at Brynmill Coffee House is now up and running for the month of August - opposite Brynmill Park and Singleton Park!

    02 August 2017
    Painting in my Attic Studio

    Painting in my Attic Studio

    13 February 2017
    Can't wait until it warms up!

    Can't wait until it warms up!

    Painting en plein air in the Black Mountains, Mid Wales

    13 February 2017
    BUSY IN MY ATTIC STUDIO

    BUSY IN MY ATTIC STUDIO

    09 February 2017
    Emma Cownie Art Here!

    Emma Cownie Art Here!

    Me standing outside the venue of a recent solo art exhibition in Swansea. Nice to have your name in "lights".

    09 February 2017