JOSIE D’ARBY: Cornucopia - ‘Ain’t that the truth’ – Wales and its turning seasons
“Last year, when I told people that I wanted to explore Wales, of course they were very surprised, given that I was born and raised here and have worked in many locations around the country. What was it that I was yet to see? Well it wasn’t really what I wanted to see, but what I wanted to feel… Wales, it’s wild and ancient places! So off I set with my walking boots, paints and camera, on a mission to learn about two new things: The Welsh landscape and how I might paint it.”
The fruit of that exploration is what this collection represents. Growing up, the child of Jamaican immigrants, and living only in cities, it’s typical that you may have little notion of your home’s wilder parts. But as Josie joined the thousands of hikers, hailing from near and far, to traverse our land, she wanted what they did, a closer look at Wales. She quickly realised that The Welsh landscape with its seasons and rugged walks, is both kind and brutal. Generous in rewarding you with its beauty but it can also, with the change of the wind or a wrong step, remind you, that you are merely human. (Hence the chipped front tooth and lip scar she now proudly sports). Best of all, she discovered that Wales is a cornucopia, it seemed to have everything she could need, right here. So her travels weren’t so much a staycation but a revelation.
“This collection of works is a celebration of the landscape and most especially the seasons. In this collection you may find my sense of the wonder and also of alienation because, it is true that I was an outsider to these landscapes and to art, but what I came to experience is that those circumstances can change, just like the seasons. This is my first public exhibition.”
About Josie’s process
Josie paints mostly in acrylic on canvas, but she also very much enjoys inks, watercolours, gouache, pencils, markers, charcoal and oil. She is self-taught and is still learning, she is primarily a naive figurative artist but for this ‘Celebration of Welsh Contemporary Painting’ exhibition she wanted to tell her story in places rather than people. The collection reflects her love of colour and bold mark making. Even though their palettes are very different, she is inspired by the works of Sir Kyffin Williams.
She paints spontaneously and loosely, moving between the abstract and naive styles.
Abstract for Josie is expressive, spontaneous and bold. Naive for her is what comes naturally, it is painting with abandon and joy, recapturing something of ones childhood in how one paints, but with the added insights and intentions of an adult trying to convey something.
