Joanne Mumford

Happy news!  My latest large oil on canvas painting sold very quickly having not long been finished.  It gives me great pleasure that it will be enjoyed and loved by the collector! 

Happy news!  Another large contemporary oil on canvas painting has gone to its lovely new home. This painting Water 9 was inspired by the sea at Menton and I hope it brings many years of joy to its new owners.

A Brush with Art, Group Exhibition at Musée Château Lascaris, Gorbio, Alpes-Maritimes, France.  

12th February - 7th May 2023. 

Exciting times!  My painting Le Jardin des Colombières has been chosen to be featured in the New This Week Collection August 22, 2022 on Saatchi Art’s homepage.  This collection has been curated by Rebecca Wilson Chief Curator, VP and Art Advisory for Saatchi Art showing her weekly picks for the best new paintings, drawings, photography and more.

I feel very fortunate when I go on a scenic coastal walk and much impresses me.  It revitalises me to be able to look at gorgeous scenery and I find it enticing for the eye to be drawn outwards viewing the expanse and magnitude of the ocean when I feel like a bit of space and fresh air.  With the scale of the mountains accentuating the cliff drop towards the sea, my attention is pulled by the sheer space and perspective that scenery of such scale offers.   Just like other people, I observe the views from the land ledges to the sea.   However, I’ve also found myself quite engrossed by the charm of the rocks immediately by my side, those that might so easily be overlooked.  

As I study the rocks, I’m aware that others’ attention then also veers towards them as I guess they wonder if I’ve spotted something extraordinary.  By taking a closer look, I’ve been intrigued by the exciting life of the not-so-static rock and I feel very satisfied with the depictions of rock that I’ve painted.   I believe I’ve highlighted the often unnoticed, with its added and subtracted circumstances of formation and erosion.  

How much should I share with a viewer about what I intended to explore or achieve with a painting?  Should there be any guidance?  Is the image what it means to the viewer and if they can relate to it or not, or is it more appropriate for me as the artist to state or guideline what it represents?  

I must consider that my oil painted image may often be regarded as simply a picture image.  A painting can be viewed separately without other specific influences and it may achieve being a well-received representation of 'something' for a viewer.  However, regardless if the image is welcomed or not, and as I created the image, if the opportunity arises I personally like to try to exhibit direction to avoid central misunderstanding by guiding a viewer with my intentions.   

I suppose that any notes I write about my paintings could be separated or lost forever but the painted image was brought about by certain circumstances and thoughts and these other stages are also my art.  I like to think that any information I provide supports the image and that it still leaves room for others' further thinking, but particularly along a route in the area that I intended to examine.  Therefore, by relaying some highlights it is regarded by myself as divulging some more of the unseen whole.