Dawn Rodger Art

I was born and brought up in West London where my artistic abilities were encouraged by my teachers. At the age of 15, my family emigrated to Western Australia.
This new environment helped establish my love of colour and light. After 4 years, I returned to London completing university and starting a family. I earned a living in the car rental industry and painting became a recreational distraction to the stresses of working life.

Several years ago, I fell ill suddenly with encephalitis (an inflammation in the brain). I went from being a normal busy working mum to lying in intensive care unable to breathe for myself and with hardly any coordination. Since then, I have relearned how to breathe, talk, eat, write etc. The need to create has to continued to be the balm that soothes my frustrations as well as a way of improving my dexterity. My family and I now call North Devon home. Its big skies and coastal waters provide much inspiration.

Oil paint is the medium I love most. I find the smell of linseed oil has a calming effect. As the paint dries slowly, there is more time to manipulate it and so more scope to play with textures. I often use metal leaf and numerous layers of oil paint glazes to bounce light through the picture plane to create depth and luminosity. These are techniques that make the paintings interesting close up as well as from a distance; however it doesn’t always come across in photographs.

In recent years, I have begun dabbling in watercolour inks and coloured pencils again. These mediums produce vibrant colours that are less rich but fresher and cleaner than oils. I am enjoying the contrast.