Deborah Vallance

As a child up to the age of 16, art had been one of my main interests, but I lacked the confidence to pursue art as a career option.  Instead I did a degree in History and taught this for over twenty years in several schools.  However, about 15 years ago I began an evening class in watercolour painting and encouraged by my sister, I then embarked on a series of courses on many aspects of painting, drawing and various unusual craft techniques.

Once I began to tap into the creative side of me that had lain dormant for several years, the floodgates of ideas opened and I began to see everything as a possible source of inspiration.  Whether walking along the beautiful coasts of Dorset where I live, observing the beauty of the human form as shown at my yoga classes or noticing the shapes and textures of apparently everyday items, I find inspiration everywhere.

Still Life
Click on picture for larger image
 

My pictures over the last 15 years have developed from fairly conventional still life pictures in watercolour or pastels through to silk painting, printing and collage to nowadays an eclectic combination of many styles.  Perhaps because I have not been formally trained, I am not afraid to experiment and some of my best results are the results of ‘happy accidents’.

Of all the techniques I have learned the one I enjoy the most is batik on paper.  This technique encourages vibrant use of colour together with a degree of iconoclasm as the images created are literally torn up and reformed to make something quite different from the original idea.  The pictures produced have an almost 3D effect, like a stained-glass window as well as the highly textured finish.

As well as creating my own pieces, I run workshops at art clubs around the country and from my own studio.

Training:

Goldsmiths College, University of London, B.Ed. (Hons) 2:1

West Dean College:

• Batik on paper (Noel Dyrenforth, Hetty van Boekhout)

• Acrylics

• Printing (Jane Stobart, Angie Lewin, Dale Devereux Barker)

• Oil painting (Emily Bull)

Exhibitions:

Tavistock Gallery
Riviera Gallery, Fuengirola
Soloman and Whitehead
Affordable Art Fairs, Bristol/Battersea
Beaulieu Fine Arts Gallery, Stourhead
Kings Hotel, Christchurch

www.deborahvallancedesigns.co.uk