This month, we’re delighted to feature Octavia Madden, a landscape artist whose work captures the quiet dialogue between observation and emotion. Deeply inspired by time spent outdoors, Octavia translates her experiences walking through the Welsh mountains and the Devon countryside into evocative, layered compositions. We recently got in touch with Octavia and asked her about her creative process, inspirations, and the stories behind her work, from sketching directly in the landscape to developing finished pieces in the studio, and the ways in which memory and emotion shape her art.
Q. Where have you found inspiration lately?
A. Earlier this year I went on an art residency in North Wales, the Hafod Residency. Spending time walking in the Welsh mountains has been invaluable to my practice. Being outdoors, with space to purely focus on art, looking, searching and absorbing the landscape, has really shaped and informed my current work.
Q. Is there a piece of art or a project that you are particularly excited about right now?
A. I’m currently working on new pieces that have grown out of my sketches and experiences from North Wales. The time spent there has stayed with me, and I’m excited to see how those drawings and memories keep evolving into larger finished works.
Q. What kind of tools or references do you like to use when creating artwork?
A. I always initially start by going out into the landscape with my sketchbook and work directly on site. Here I’m not looking for a view to paint, instead I am walking and just taking different elements in, whether this be the way the light is falling, shapes of the shadows through the trees or the colours and textures of lichens and mosses. These drawings then inform the final pieces I make back in my studio. I use the sketches alongside my memory and feelings of the place to guide the work, so the finished pieces carry both observation and emotional response.
Q. What artists or artworks (from your daily life or art history) do you admire or consider influential to your work and why?
A. Landscape paintings by the Welsh Artist Mary Lloyd Jones have been very influential. I love the way she balances abstraction and representation. The work can be rather abstract but with a few recognisable elements that help give the viewer a way into the painting. She paints dynamic compositions with varying marks, colours and tones.
Q. What advice do you have for new or aspiring artists?
A. Join different artist networks and memberships. Here in Devon, CAMP (Contemporary Art Membership Platform), DAN (Devon Artist Network) and ACED (Arts and Culture East Devon) are great. Museums like RAMM (Royal Albert Memorial Museum) in Exeter offer a lot of opportunities. Creating art can sometimes feel very isolated but surrounding yourself with a creative buzz makes it easier. Going to private views, exhibitions and meeting other artists is so important - it really supports your practice.
Q. Professionally, what has been your biggest achievement so far?
A. It is probably having a painting shortlisted for the New Blood Art Emerging Art Prize and having it sell at the Saatchi Gallery.
Q. What is your first memory of creating art?
A. My first memory of creating was drawing a fossil in Year 3 at primary school. I was really pleased with the drawing and I got an award for it. This is probably why the memory has stayed with me.
Q. How do you spend your time when you’re not creating artwork?
A. I work part-time as a youth support worker, play netball, do horse riding, coach for the local Pony Club and love reading and listening to podcasts.
Q. What work do you most enjoy doing?
A. I most enjoy the balance between being outdoors sketching directly in the landscape, and then bringing those drawings back into the studio to develop into finished pieces. That combination of direct observation and reflective making is what excites me.
Q. What is your dream project?
A. My dream project would be to have a space where I could run workshops, host artist residencies and have a gallery - a place for making, sharing and inspiring creativity.
Thank you to Octavia for sharing her journey, inspirations, and creative process with us. Her work reminds us of the quiet power of observation and how spending time in nature can be transformed into layered, emotive artworks that invite reflection and connection.
You can explore more of Octavia’s artwork on her Instagram and website, and stay tuned for next month’s Artist of the Month, where we’ll spotlight another creative voice shaping the world through art.