Penny studied Graphic Design and Illustration in Newcastle upon Tyne in the late ‘80s, but returned to art education, and Carmarthen School of Art, to study Fine Art Painting as a mature student, graduating in 2002.

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Following a 20 year teaching career, she has resumed her artistic practice full time, appreciating the benefits of the creative process on health, wellbeing and self-discovery.

Her non-figurative work is characterised by the use of strong colour, mixed media and geometric shapes, and she describes it as being the result of ‘purposeful play’, merging techniques and processes from a range of different disciplines.

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“The concept for this body of work was born during lockdown, when I began to explore the apparent contradictory idea of the bubble; how something so transient and fragile became a source of strength, a shield, whilst remaining so vulnerable and in need of protection in order to exist and function.

 

My compositions and process began to evolve into something more intuitive, with each layer altering, or protecting, the previous one, while informing the direction of what was to come. The process itself was repetitive and meditative, and the colour became deliberately more intense as the pieces progressed, reflecting the experience of lockdown.

 

As the work evolved, the ‘bubbles’ took on the appearance of little planets, other worlds, raising awareness of the need to protect on a global scale.

 

It is true to say that we have all been affected by our experiences, and we all now see the world differently, through different eyes. These pieces seek to inspire feelings of calm and hope, to provide a little place of sanctuary in a chaotic world.”