Jude Nelson Freeman is a contemporary landscape artist currently based in the UK from where she travels widely. Her paintings are representations of encounters with enigmatic places. She is attracted to wilderness and has a particular affinity with the Australian landscape. Her fascination with leaf littered forest floors, dry river beds strewed with gum trees and rocks, canyons and small pools of captured water reflecting an intense sky, inspires her paintings. Leaning towards abstraction, marks might suggest the bend of a tree, light on a rock or ripple on water, and colour is seen in a palette recognizably hers. The juxtaposition of tranquility and vitality is ever present.
“I’m interested in experiencing a moment in time of a place that has existed for millennia, absorbing its compositions and colour. I immerse myself, with empathy for the peoples who have passed this way over time and what it meant to them, the history and geography of a place. I strive to create impactful paintings that express that elusive memory while recreating some of its beauty for the viewer. A reverie that finds colour and form, texture and line to enrich the resonance of place.”
“My paintings range from large oils and mixed media on canvas to smaller pieces on paper or board using pastel, gesso and gouache. I like to escape, and tend to wander until I come across a place that draws me in. A place of unique raw beauty in my view, and an atmosphere that encourages me to stay for a while. I may sketch and take photographs but mostly I just see and feel it with my senses and allow myself to be absorbed and tuned into it. Later, in my studio, I can reconnect with that time spent and begin to paint.
Firstly laying down broad shapes and subtle colour before developing the forms further, layering bold and muted colour to enrich the palette. The application of paint and scraping back allows the painting to evolve while intuitive gestural marks dart across the surface describing movement and vitality. The paintings have texture and an adept use of colour which draws the eye across the canvas.