Julie Oldfield 2020

Chester Arts Fair, Julie Oldfield, Copper Occlusion 2

Chester Arts Fair, Julie Oldfield, Copper Blue

Chester Arts Fair, Julie Oldfield, Copper Occlusion 1

Chester Arts Fair, Julie Oldfield, Copper Occlusion 3

Chester Arts Fair, Julie Oldfield, Metal Occlusion

Chester Arts Fair, Julie Oldfield, Brass Occlusion

Julie Oldfield 2020

I have always enjoyed the spectacle and variety of changing skies and how weather, along with the time of day and season, plays with the light. Every moment is unique in detail, yet weather has a repetition and character that we respond to with various emotions – joy, awe, fascination and even fear when extreme.

I take inspiration from living on the Jurassic Coast. The sea gives reflections and an increased luminance, as well as a horizon that exposes the sky to its full potential, making a special visual experience.

As an artist, I want to capture the different moods that skies give, especially the translucence and colours of a low sun through clouds and its play of light on the sea. My images are not intended to be exact records, like a photograph. My work gives an impression of the environment and is intended to provoke contemplation and an emotional response.

Over the last few years I have been developing my own experimental techniques to do this. My work increasingly uses mixed media on metal sheets – typically copper, brass and aluminum. Some of my new work uses stainless steel. The metal sheets are heated and treated with various chemicals to produce different colours and textures as a foundation, before sprays and pastels are added.

I am pleased with the results of using stainless steel as a new base material – so far, using metal has been the best mimic of sky luminance that I have found. It has been an exciting journey to explore.