.png)
About the Artist
Julia Chance's paintings are inspired by landscapes and cities and are made in her studio in Altrincham. She applies paint to the prepared boards in an intuitive way, exploring the interplay of colours, textures, gestures and mark-making with different tools. Her techniques involve building up layers, scraping back, rubbing, blending, scratching and splattering the paint onto the surface. Julia will work on a number of paintings at the same time, moving between them to stay fresh.
After some time, and as the layers build up, the beginnings of a composition or a particular quality of colour combination and mark-making emerges. She will try to stay alert and to notice when this happen and follow and build upon this when it does. Julia works with the feeling that something is emerging – sometimes it’s a process that flows, but more often it’s an all-engaging wrestle; gaining, losing and then re-gaining control of the painting over a period of time. The paintings will often develop into a cityscape or landscape in an oblique way, as the work progresses.
The process is one of controlling the work as it develops whilst remaining open to taking risks and responding to chance occurrences along the way.
Her earlier paintings were a response to a specific experience in a landscape or city, during which she would make sketches and take photos. She would then make the painting over a period of time in the studio, revisiting the sketches and photos to remind her of the original experience. By remaining open to what happened along the way through the painting process, the aim was to allow each work to gradually take on a life of its own.
