lisa parkyn
Website: www.lisaparkyn.com
Instagram: lisaparkynart/
Facebook: LisaParkynCreative/
Statement
I am a painter originally from Botswana, now based in East Devon. I am primarily inspired by nature; studies in design, life drawing, psychotherapy. My paintings include references of flowers, landscape and figures and is linked to intuitive drawing, layering, mark-making and gestural brushstrokes.
I am interested in capturing the visceral response to a subject or place. I utilise my senses whilst creating my expressive paintings. I have always had a deep affinity to the natural world and draw inspiration from the colour and atmosphere experienced throughout the seasons with daily walks in the surrounding countryside and nearby Jurassic coast.
I work mainly in water-based mediums – building up layers in acrylic, ink, collage, pastels and charcoal on canvas, paper, or wood. I subtract through drawing, scraping, washing and sanding back creating a rich surface history. I alternate working intuitively and analytically until a balanced composition is resolved.
My art practice has become more process driven and abstract over time. A passion for exploration and play allows my artistic voice to evolve and keeps me engaged.
Biography
Lisa Parkyn was born in South West Africa in 1975 and spent her early life on a remote farm in the Kalahari semi-desert, Botswana.
She painted from a young age, perhaps due to growing up with a grandmother and mother both painting. She went on to study and have a career in graphic design in South Africa and London. Whilst working in London she completed a degree in movement psychotherapy part-time. After overseas travel, she settled in Devon in 2008 with her husband. Along with raising a family, she began to revisit her art – initially portraits and landscapes and later increasingly leaning toward abstract.
National open exhibitions include the Society of Women Artists 2024, 2023 & 2022, South West Academy Open 2023 & 2022 and Figurative Art Now 2021.
Solo exhibitions include Layers & Light (Malthouse Gallery, Lyme Regis 2021) and Delving Beneath (Kennaway House, Sidmouth 2021).
Recent group exhibitions include Esprit (Malthouse Gallery 2024), Responses (Malthouse Gallery 2023), Replenish (Malthouse Gallery 2023), Pop Up 22 – Sou’ Sou’ West Contemporary Gallery (Bridport 2022), Memory & Emotion: Artizan Gallery (UK 2022), Echoes: (Lyme Regis 2022) and Spring Selected Artists Artizan South West Contemporary (Torquay 2022).
Her work is held in private collections across the UK and in Africa, Japan and Mauritius.
She has run numerous art workshops since 2020.