Tumble down, acrylics on board, 80cm x 80cm
July, acrylics on board, 80cm x 80cm
Blues, acrylics on board, 25cm x 26cm
Stella Hidden
Stella studied Fine Art at Herefordshire College of Art and Design, and 20th Century Art History through the Open University, as a mature student. She has painted professionally for 12 years, currently in her studio, a converted dovecote situated in picturesque Herefordshire which is ideally suited to the scale required of her vibrant and colourful work. Last year, she showed at Chatton Gallery, Northumberland and the h.Art Open Exhibition, Hereford City Art Gallery (for which she was also selected in 2002 and 2003), as well as holding an exhibition in Mansel Lacy Community Hall, Hereford as part of Herefordshire Art Week. Other recent exhibitions include Lion Gallery Leominster (2003), Montage Gallery, Castleton (2002 and 1998), Birmingham Botanical Gardens (2000) and Artists to the Fore, The Courtyard, Hereford (also 2000).
I trained and practised as a draughtswoman and after two decades started to develop my painting ability. The transition from the depiction of landscape and figures to one of manipulating pure abstract forms has taken many years to achieve.
My main aim is to explore the use of layered colour and richness of paint to create rhythmic images within an atmosphere of movement and light, which are full of vitality and mood, some exuberant, others quiet and contemplative. The intense focus on colour, incorporating musical pitch, instrumental and rhythmic subtlety, leads to paintings of a rich 'sound' which can resonate and continue to vibrate.
The process of creating a painting embraces not only technique but also layers of thinking, feeling and the contemplation of the work in progress. Inspiration and spontaneity is always necessary to complete a work that satisfies me.
Each moment we live we experience life through our senses; when I look at the countryside, an object, a figure, I see a harmony of colours, the shapes, the tones, the shadows. I hear the numerous sounds – note the treble, the bass, the intervals, the forte, piano and silence. I feel the rhythm, the pulse, the vibrations and the stillness. In my painting I absorb all these moments, accumulating an overall image and memory in an abstract form.
Stella Hidden, 2006