It's time to honour and celebrate exceptional artists with our June edition of the Artist of the Month blog. From captivating landscape painters to innovative digital illustrators, this blog series promises to ignite your creative spirit. Whether you're an artist, an art lover, or simply looking for some creative inspiration, this special blog is for you. Join us in appreciating the beauty and skill of our talented artists and explore the world of art with us.
This month, we're excited to introduce you to Georgia Morgan, a British contemporary artist from Devon known for her breathtaking seascapes and landscapes. We had the pleasure of connecting with Georgia to learn more about her and her artistic journey...
Q. Where have you found inspiration lately?
A. I am inspired by elemental motion. Clouds, wind and sea are forever changing and forever moving energies. I also experience nature like a sensory experience, it makes me feel alive! Wind dancing with my hair, cool water lapping over my skin, fizzing sea foam, golden hour glow on my face. I aim to encapsulate these feelings within my paintings.
Q. Is there a piece of art or a project that you are particularly excited about right now?
A. This week I have a surfboard commission underway - the mock-up sketches and colour palettes have me bursting with excitement for this aerial dappled piece.
Q. What kinds of tools or references do you like to use when creating artwork?
A. On daily walks, I sketch and record surroundings via line drawings or gather colours. I also sketch ideas on an iPad. I often use these compositions or palettes as reference when in the studio, especially if I have a creative block! Otherwise I am usually in a flow state as soon as I pick up a brush and only stand back to critique or reference my sketches the following day.
Q. What artists or artworks (from your life or art history) do you admire or consider influential to your work & why?
A. I studied textiles and surface pattern at college, I admire the expressive painterly marks of Patrick Heron, Giorgio Griffa + CY Twombly. I find them expressive of energy and mark making. In recent years, Cornish painter Kurt Jackson, is a master of en plain air sea and landscape studies. I recently visited Jackson’s gallery in St Just and blown away by scratchy texture and mesmerising paint application.
Q. What advice do you have for other new or aspiring artists?
A. “Paint like it’s a party!” Is my favourite motto. Find your flow state and have fun. Engrained advise a fellow artist once gave me is “While your audience is assessing your latest work, keep painting the next” do not worry with opinions, stay joyful and on your authentic calling.
Q. Professionally, what has been your biggest achievement so far?
A. I am proud to have bespoke commissions in private collections around the world! Shipping my art to wonderful collectors will forever be up there, alongside owning a gallery for a few years! In 2021 myself and three other artists opened our harbour-side gallery, where it was incredible to witness the moment a painting grabs a soul. It is magical!
Q. What is your first memory of creating art?
A. My Auntie commissioned me a painting of Woolacombe beach. I bought a canvas and oil paints for the first time and dove straight in. The luxurious creamy texture of oils applied with a palette knife won my heart! The following week, I ordered 100cm square canvases. Immediately I was in awe with the movement I physically put into large scale seascapes and the elemental movement I can capture.
Q. How do you spend your time when you’re not creating artwork?
A. You will find me along the North Devon coast paths and scrambling down to hidden coves or gardening! My kitchen garden is my happy place! Herbs, veggies and home grown-home cooked food is where I find joy outside the studio.
Q. What work do you most enjoy doing?
A. Finding unfinished (or occasionally ‘finished’) works in the studio and working into them, months or sometimes years later. These canvases, always, turn into my most cherished artworks. Maybe it’s the depth and familiarity of their textures, that is the reason I work so experimental and freely on them.
Q. What is your dream project?
A. Curating several artworks for a client’s home, to make it feel personal, special and exciting! I would reference the clients desires and interior style to pull colour palettes together and offer visual concepts for the wall/rooms by superimposing my sketches. Many homeowners want their furnishings to compliment the art… or vice versa. It would be a fulfilling process, to paint meaningful artworks, having incorporated my knowledge of colours and interiors. The dream!
It has been an absolute delight getting to know the incredibly talented Georgia! Her breathtaking paintings and passion for art are truly inspiring to us all. If you want to learn more about her and shop her stunning creations, be sure to visit her website and Instagram. And don’t forget to stay tuned for next month’s edition of our Artist of the Month blog in July!