First and foremost, I'm fascinated by texture. Happiest with a box of unwanted haberdashery and small things most sensible people throw in the recycling, such as zips, lace, bra-straps, and can pulls, I use them to describe decorative features on buildings, the pattern of waves and clouds, the tones of skin.
I like sketching in charcoal and ink and keep a scruffy number of sketchbooks I add pages to, never wanting to stop using them. My favourite type of drawing practice is life drawing and attend as many classes as I can. From these sketches, I build up collage, ripping out parts that don't work, or relayering with papers and paint. To me, the more I break up a picture, the more interesting the texture are.
I enjoy depicting all sorts of scenes, from architecture to trees to cats. The more obscure the view, the building, the position, the better.
Ele, in case you're wondering, is not my actual name - it's Elinor. Ele is how my older brother and sister spelled it when we were little (and very bad at spelling). You can pronounce it to rhyme with belly or bell, I don't mind at all.
We grew up in the Wiltshire town of Chippenham with our parents and our much-loved cat, George, George actually got me into drawing as he made such perfect poses and liked to lie in them for hours at a time. Following A-Levels in Art and English Literature, I au-paired in Italy and then went on to take an Art Foundation course at Trowbridge College, followed by a degree in Visual Communication (Graphic Design) at Birmingham. I also completed a PGCE in Primary Teaching - which confirmed to me the brilliance of children.
After settling in Bath, I began exhibiting my ink and mixed media paintings in a local gallery called Time & Space, and in various exhibitions, including the Combe Down Art Trail, Bath Society of Artists Annual Open Exhibition, The Pound, and Bath Open Studios - the latter of which I now run, organising group exhibitions of local artists at the RUH, Bath Central Library, 44AD, and Burdall's Yard. In addition to organising these shows, I use my training in graphic design to create posters and flyers for the events, as well as creating and updatin websites.
I also started to write fiction. I graduated from the Golden Egg Academy after completing a novel, and have continued taking many writing courses, never tiring of learning new skills and approaches. Sometimes something clicks, like when I was ten and my story about George the cat won a local writing competition, and when my short story, The Ghost Boy, won the Bath Short Story Award in 2014.
When I’m not reading, writing stories, watching Korean or Chinese dramas, or wading through collage bits and pieces, I hang out with my husband, our children, one extra special toddler, and three cats (who all like to spend hours posing too) in one creatively chaotic house.
