How to commission art for your home, an interview with artist Jude McKenna

I frequently use art both as a source of inspiration for my designs and to recommend to clients as an integral part of their interior design. This blog kicks off a new series I am doing interviewing makers that I have found and admire on art and craft for interior design.

We are starting with one of my absolute favourite local artists, the (very) talented Jude Mckenna. Here I am in discussion with her about her work, inspiration and how to commission your own bespoke piece for your home. Look out for my follow up posts on how I have used her work as inspiration for my interior designs.

Jude, could you please tell us about yourself and how you became an artist?

I come from a creative family and have always been drawn to art. So, whilst initially I worked in the health sector, I did subsequently study for a Fine art painting degree at art school in Cheltenham. It was amazing, such a privilege to have the time to explore and experiment, and those 4 years were some of the most enjoyable of my life! I have now been working as an artist for around 24 years, and have been lucky enough to be pretty much full time over the last few years.

Tidal shore

What is your preferred medium and why?

I used to use oils but was find that the solvents I used with them was becoming detrimental to my health, so I moved over to acrylics and now I wouldn’t go back, the pigments are a fantastic quality and I have learned to make acrylics behave in a similar way to oils to obtain the atmospheric feel with in the work that I strive for.

How have your life experiences influenced your aesthetic style?

I don’t think my life experiences have shaped my style, but I think I am a bit of an escapist, a bit of a dreamer and probably shouldn’t be in the 21st century! My subject matter is influenced by things I have seen, memories, experiences of landscapes. Half remembered, half-forgotten places, inner landscapes, romantic, escapist and meditative landscapes, places to sit and think and dream, to get away from the hurly, burly of life. My style has been refined over my years of painting, by experimentation, and making use of a variety and expanding repertoire of marks.

How have other artists or art genres influenced your style of aesthetics?

There is no one specific artist or genre but artists I do admire are Rothko, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombley , Turner of course and Peter Lanyon, a Cornish artist, to name but a few.

 What is your inspiration?

Weekends away by the coast, the wind in the trees, the distant horizon, dawn on a dog walk, the leaves in autumn, the sea, the shape of an outcrop of land by the sea, the seasons, the weather, the colour of a rock the feeling of the air, a cloud formation, anything and everything landscape related.

 I can see that your work seems to fall into two main colour-ways, blues and greens or pinky-browns which reflects those landscapes, is there a seasonal element as well to your work?

Yes definitely, I use more brown oxides and transparent red oxides in autumn and winter. The paintings are darker, murkier, perhaps reflecting the more unsettled weather. In the spring and summer, more blues tend to appear. However, although these 2 colour-ways are my favourites, I do also use other colours too, golds and dirty yellow and purples have featured lately in my work.

Heading for the hills

What motivates you to create?

I think as a creative person it is an inner compulsion, an itch you need to scratch, you just need to create.

Can you talk me through the process?

I start with an idea, a shape of the land maybe, or where I want the horizon to be. I know the colours I want it to be and the sort of feeling I hope people will feel when looking at it . Then I progress to drawing some light charcoal lines. After that it is an organic process, applying thin layers of paint, layers of texture, making a wide variety of marks. You start quickly and freely and become slower and more contemplative as time goes on and the painting develops.

If you could describe your work in 3 words, what would they be?

Atmospheric, soulful and emotive.

What is your studio like? Do you listen to music?

A flipping mess! It’s a nightmare, I can’t keep it tidy, a bit like my car. The house is tidy, but my studio is a different sphere where I go into an inner world. No, I don’t listen to music, I need to focus, and find any noise distracting!

I adore your work and have several pieces of my own. Can people commission work from you and if so, what is the process?

Yes, I do undertake commissions. The initial process varies by client, it can be anything from people coming to me with an idea of the feeling that they want to capture, right through to a whole mood board! We discuss size and colours and then I get started. After that it is an iterative process, with me sending images of the work in progress to the client, this ensures that we are aligned on the final outcome. It is a process of refinements and adjustment, to keep ideas on the same page as those of the client.

Have you got any upcoming exhibitions that people could see you at?

I currently have some pieces for sale at Cotswold Contemporary (Burford - @cotswoldcontemporary) and later in the year I will be doing Manchester Art Fair.

If people wish to commission from you, how should they contact you?

Either DM me through Instagram @Jude Mckenna.paintings or via my website judemckennapaintings.com