Artist Statement

"As a contemporary artist, I paint landscapes which express my somatic and emotional experience of being in the natural world and responding to it's power, fragility and temporality.

My work is about being in relationship with nature. I experience it through my eyes, but also through my emotional and physical sensory responses. This is part of my preparatory work as an artist, to connect as directly as possible, with my subject from the core of my being through whole body perception.

Here I experience a sense of 'sameness' or 'oneness' with nature. This lived experience of place is central to expressing the quality of connection I feel with the land and the elements. It is this raw essence of connection that I want to bring into my paintings.

My painting process involves invention and memory alongside inspiration from direct nature-immersion, and sketching, painting and photographing my subjects outdoors before I begin work in the studio.

I paint in oils and natural resins on canvas or board because I love the brilliance, layering, dynamism and subtlety of colour and transparency made available through using oil paint. I see myself as an expressive landscape painter and my creative practice spans from making realistic to semi-abstract images.

Ultimately, I want my work to convey a passionate sense of awe and interconnectedness with the natural world and its fragile ecology. This planet is a sanctuary and source of inspiration for the human spirit and our very existence now depends on our collective commitment to the Earth and our willingness to protect it."

Endangered Species

Recently I have also begun including the silhouetted shapes of extinct or endangered species into my paintings. Red silhouettes represent creatures in danger of becoming extinct, while white silhouettes represent those we have already lost. My aim here is to draw attention to the rapid decline in species' numbers due to loss of habitat, use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers; and also to express a deep concern about the subsequent loss of interrelationships within nature itself, because each absent part of our complex ecosystems will effect the whole web of life.

New River Series

I am embarking on a new series of paintings based on Sussex rivers, which focus on the theme of water pollution. This series focuses on the pollution of our Rivers by our local and National water providers. I have called the series ‘Longing for the Waters’, as these rivers are places that people have gone to swim and fish for thousands of generations, except that now water companies are dumping effluent in huge quantities into the water every year. So although I still canoe on these rivers, I no longer swim here because many people get sick from doing so. Hence, ‘Longing for the Waters’ to be clean and to be restored to their natural beauty and vitality.

For any painting or commission enquiries, please contact Riga here or call her on +44 07748 765 949.

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