I have developed my own approach to surrealism by connecting to my subconscious and tuning into colour, movement and emotions. The natural world fills me with wonder and I link my emotions with current events and how I’m feeling in the moment. By not being overly influenced by any particular artist, I believe my work remains fresh and original.  I take great pride in my work being unique.  The influence of other artists does inspire a desire for perfection and the development of strong technical abilities.  This is essential to the process of creating convincing images from seemingly irreconcilable elements.  I enjoy experimenting with ideas in watercolour, pencil and ink.  My favoured medium remains oil paint.

I am not an academic.  I retrieve events I have encountered, and my imagination converts them into images.  For example, a recent painting entitled He Ain’t Heavy was inspired by seeing a cloud just above a thin tree branch.  The cloud became an elephant.  The title emerged while the painting was being made -no doubt a memory of the 1967 Hollies song.  This song was originally inspired by an earlier story, when a priest with the children’s charity, Boys Town, noticed how some boys were carrying a boy with polio up and down stairs.  When he asked one of the boys if he minded, he replied: He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.  These words perfectly imply the feeling in the painting.

I am aware my imagination is quirky and vivid, my mind quickly bounces from subject-to-subject. I see this as a distinct advantage - a potential source of inspiration.  I hope these paintings share and illuminate what it’s like to be in my head.

It’s fun to have this different outlook and I celebrate these quirks and differences - showing them in my work, home and personality.

To coincide with her show, Caroline will attend the BMI on Monday, 20th April and Monday, 11th May  between 12 noon and 3.00 pm to meet Members and other visitors.  Caroline is also giving an Artist Talk at the BMI on Thursday, 14 May between 1.00-2.00 pm where she will discuss the primary sources that inspires her own contemporary surreal paintings.

For more information to book tickets, please follow this Eventbrite link - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/conversations-with-the-subconscious-tickets-1985387913695?aff=oddtdtcreator