I was recently invited to an exhibition featuring Rebecca Lardner, who on that particular day was making a personal appearance. Sadly, due to work committments I was unable to attend but it did get me thinking about Rebecca the Artist.
A Gamekeeper's daughter from Purbeck, Rebecca Lardner was born in Swanage, Dorset in 1971. After completing an Art Foundation Course at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art & Design, she graduated from the Sir John Moore's University of Liverpool with a BA Honours degree in Illustration.
Since graduation she has worked as a professional artist and illustrator. In 1995 she designed, made and installed 24 animated windows for the prestigious Brown Thomas in Dublin for the Christmas lights. In 1998 she travelled to Southern India to paint a mural for the Russ Foundation. Having started out creating greetings cards, Rebecca Lardner now produces mostly original art works, fulfiling commissions for a number of high-profile clients including Paul McCartney's Music Academy, as well as a range of magazines and record sleeves. Her work is now publicised world-wide through her illustrations for Hen House publications and her limited edition prints reach outlets throughout Europe and America via the Portfolio Collection. She regularly exhibits with leading galleries in the UK and her delightful naive paintings are bought by collectors worldwide.
She was awarded Best New Artist 2008 by the UK's Fine Art Trade Guild. This is quite a prestigious award in the Fine Art industry and demand for an artist's work has historically rocketed after receiving the award and this has certainly been the case with Rebecca as her publisher Demontfort Fine Art will testify. This year she won the Best-Selling Published Artist Award at the Art and Framing Industry Awards.
She has gone from living in surroundings that might have been lifted from a fairytale to something more genteel. The artist who paints idealised imaginative seaside scenes now lives in house overlooking the green in fordington, a dorchester village filled with Georgian houses that is much more Jane Austen than Brothers Grimm.
So what is the secret to her success? Well I can certainly comment on the artwork itself and the public's liking of it.
Influenced by Cornish artist Alfred Wallis and by Dorset and its coastline, her recent oil paintings on canvas depict life at the seaside, especially the classic English harbour using turquoises, blues and subtle tones to depict a scene of ceaseless activity involving boats and sea birds. Indeed the people almost take second place to the real characters; the narrow terraced houses, the buoyant fishing boats and of course the occassional solemn looking cat that looks-on to the activity below as if inspecting a parade. It musters the charming naive quality of illustrations from a children's book, and they are intended more to convey a dream of the seaside than an actual place.
Upbeat, quirky, even humourous, are words often used to describe Rebecca Lardner's paintings. A diversity of style that has evolved over the years.
So what does her work do for me? Well it takes me back to my childhood. It evokes reminiscing of the British seaside towns that we have all visited at some time in our lives: The quirkiness of the town houses that are so familiar with those areas, the fishing boats, the wharfs, the moorings, the blueness of the sea, the fair and candy floss and so on. Whilst I can't quite hear the seagulls or smell the salty sea water or feel the sea breeze on my face - for a moment I am taken back to "Happy Days".
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/art-articles/she-was-only-the-gamekeepers-daughter-4982704.html
About the AuthorChris Sabian is an artist with http://www.kutefineart.com and co-owner of http://www.paragonprints.co.uk and blogger http://chris-sabian.blogspot.com