Janet Moodie NDD ARCA

Born in County Durham, Janet studied at Middlesborough College of Art and the Royal College of Art. Whilst living in London, she lectured at Hornsey College of Art and ran her own company, Blind Alley Ltd at Camden Lock. From London, she moved to Cornwall where she taught in Adult Education and exhibited her work in the Tate St Ives and other galleries. She now lives in Robin Hood’s Bay. Her work was recently included in the Hunting prize Exhibition. She is also the winner of the Dover prize.

She says of her work. "The Moors and the Coastline have been my inspiration all my life, from being a child all through my college years. I have drawn an inner strength from it’s magnificent power. In my work I try to understand it’s historical, glacial structures. Sometimes I win, especially when I convey the truth to the viewer and they can see the same elements that I can see. I am always awed by the ever changing light and colour and my lines and marks are a direct response to what I see and feel."

Janet’s work tells the truth. She searches for the underlying armature of her beloved Yorkshire, delving into the ancient structures of it’s formation. She incorporates this ice age history into every line and observation. Using any medium at hand, she manages to capture the essence of the place. Working directly from the landscape automatically relays the honesty of her work, and this certainly shows through. Her sketchbooks bulge with visual notes and vibrant lines of observation. Not only does she take her canvases into the place of study but also she takes paper so the work spreads over both, incorporating drawing and painting, gathering as much information about the place in the time. Collecting vegetation and pigments to use as a colour reference. Her recent studies of the burnt moor were actually drawn with the charcoal produced by the torched gorse. Her same method of working applies to her seascapes. Her energy seems to be infinite...

"The power of "Landscape" and the microscopic reflections of the same forms has always been at the source of all my work. Strongly influenced by the same encapsulation of d'Arcy Thompson and his studies of Growth and Form, together with Samual Palmer’s rich textural moving landscapes.

My work uses simple colour abstractions and natural balances of colour and movement in materialising the structures I search for. My work is forever changing, moving on and simplifying, breaking new boundaries of visual analysis".