Amy Goldring
At school, chatterbox Amy was a star pupil, getting A grades at GSCE and A-Level before heading off to do an Art Degree in Cardiff. Born in Colchester, Amy now lives in South Wales with her husband and young son Marley, who she paints at every opportunity. Amy is inspired by music - her family are all musicians β and although she doesnβt perform herself, she considers her paintings as a βvisual danceβ. Of her work, Amy says: βI usually give my paintings away to people as gifts, trying to give the right painting to the right person, whom I believe will benefit from the painting in a therapeutic sense.β Amy always removes her shoes to paint, and is very physical β approaching the canvas from all directions and often striking yoga poses while painting! And as she increasingly has to hold her son while she paints, sheβs taken to waking up at 2am to get a few hoursβ painting time in whilst he sleeps! Amy enjoys painting the still lives of objects she makes out of bright, stripy fabrics and traditional African and Asian fabrics. Oil, acrylic, wax batik, spray paint, collage and charcoal are her favourite mediums but sheβs not a fan of chalk. She also likes to use watercolours in a non-traditional way, painting them as brightly as possible and using them as part of collage.
Q&A
What first inspired you to get into painting?
I have had an insatiable need to make art all my life. It is the simple joy of putting one colour next to another and the act of expressing a deeper level of being far beyond the everyday and mundane. I started painting with acrylics on canvas age 11 before that I had always used cheap watercolours or other child friendly stuff. My mum and dad said I would be on the living carpet with my bum in the air furiously colouring something for hours every evening. That love has never dimmed.
What piece of your own artwork are you most proud of?
I love all my paintings but especially my large sea turtles in oil, they are incredibly intricate. Each one took a couple of weeks to paint. I painted them for my son Marley before he was born as they are a protective symbol for newborns in Native American culture. They are hanging in his playroom and he loves them. People have offered me up to £800 for each of them but I will never sell them. They belong to my little boy.
Have you had any artistic disasters? Were you able to learn anything from that?
Every piece of art work teeters on the edge of disaster at some point, meaning any artwork takes massive patience and determination. It's working through those problems that teaches you new skills. That is why I respect anyone who makes artworks, it's extremely hard work but the most rewarding of all endeavours for me.
What was it like being critiqued by Lachlan and Daphne β what did you learn most from their weekly feedback?
Being critiqued by Lachlan and Daphne has literally changed my life! It was a steep learning curve but they have imparted a lifetime’s knowledge to all of us and my work is now going from strength to strength as I put the lessons to practice. Most of all they have given me the greatest gift anyone could have given me- the confidence in myself as an artist and the knowledge that all art is so valuable, even drawing your shoes or what you can see out the window. They have taken the snobbery out of the art world for me and now I feel I have the pride and determination to keep making paintings for the rest of my life even if I never become a top contemporary. In short they have given me back the confidence that art school stripped from me in my early 20s. I literally could never do enough to thank them.
Which artist(s) has inspired you the most?
I love Hockney because what comes across in his work is the pure joy of trying to represent the world around him with paint, pencils or collage. I also love Yayoi Kusama because we share a similar philosophy to do with pattern being a universal expression of love and unity.
What is your favourite thing to paint or draw?
I love painting everyday items of clothing but in a different context so they take on anthropomorphic qualities. I love pattern and bright colour as an expression of the sacred nature of all things (similar to Shinto philosophy). I also love painting collections of things, especially my son’s belongings, such as a pile of dummies, weening spoons or teething toys. I love painting portraits of the people I love and scenes of family intimacy and love.
Quick questionsβ¦
Landscape or portraiture? Portraits all the way!
Acrylic or watercolour for painting? Watercolour with white gouache.
Pencil or ink for sketching? Pencil every time.
Still life or life drawing? Still life.
Lachlan or Daphne? I love them both so much. Their scope of knowledge is breathtaking, they are heroes to me.
