Emma Dunbar

Emma Dunbar: What excites me about making pictures is trying to capture the essence of a place, a feeling, a thing. I am attracted to vivid colours and the decorative qualities in everyday objects. I enjoy rearranging my ingredients, for instance moving all the red boats on the beach next to the pink tractor for a stronger effect. Birds, shells, flowers and fish might be placed against true landmarks as focal points. My pictures are therefore more atmospheric than literal.

My aim is to end up with my gathered ingredients – glimpses of journeys, patterns from familiar settings and objects collected along the way – converging to create an image that communicates the richness of the original source of inspiration.

I work mainly on board in acrylic, occasionally incorporating collage with gold and silver leaf. My training as a printmaker is evident both in the use of blocks of flat colour and in the way I scratch through surfaces to reveal pre-laid colours underneath.

My influences come from traveling in India , Cornish holidays and the chaos of cats and children wandering onto wet paint. I have also drawn inspiration from the work of favourite artists, including Mary Fedden, Milton Avery and Daphne McClure.

Born in England in 1961, Emma graduated in 1984 with a BA (hons) in Fine Art Printmaking from West Surrey College of Art and Design. Since then she has worked full time as an artist and exhibited throughout the UK. Her paintings have been internationally reproduced as greetings cards, posters, limited edition etchings and even fabric designs.

Emma strives trying to capture the essence of a place, a feeling, a thing. She is attracted to vivid colours and the decorative qualities in everyday objects.. Birds, shells, flowers and fish might be placed against true landmarks as focal points. Her pictures are therefore more atmospheric than literal.

The aim is to end up with the gathered ingredients – glimpses of journeys, patterns from familiar settings and objects collected along the way – converging to create an image that communicates the richness of the original source of inspiration.

Working mainly on board in acrylic, occasionally incorporating collage with gold and silver leaf, Emma’s training as a printmaker is evident both in the use of blocks of flat colour and in the way it is scratch through surfaces to reveal pre-laid colours underneath.

Emma’s influences come from travelling in India, Cornish holidays and the chaos of cats and children wandering onto wet paint. She also draws inspiration from the work of favourite artists, including Mary Fedden, Milton Avery and Daphne McClure.