Rosie Gilligan meets the Buddhist artist who swapped the mountains of Wales for the hills of Derbyshire.
VAL Hudson is an artist inspired by the natural world, the elements and landscape. Living in Barlow, she gains much inspiration from the Derbyshire countryside.
“I love being outside, walking along places such as Curbar Edge,” she says. “I take photographs and notes and then back home I mentally process what I’ve seen, translating it onto canvas. I usually work large and my paintings are quite abstract, but during lockdown I’ve produced a series of smaller pieces based on a woodland close to where I live. This is the most representative work I’ve ever done, and though the colours I use on the paintings aren’t of that place, I’m trying to give a sense of what it feels like to be there.”
Inside Outside, one of Val’s recent paintings, is an example of how she
has made that response to lockdown. “I paint in layers of oil and wax on linen, scraping back the layers to produce effects I’m happy with,” she explains. “It isn’t a specific scene, though there are elements of a real place that I hope will resonate with those who see it, and evoke memories of places they themselves know.”…