Lesley Smyth Hand-painted delights

I first ‘met’ the work of Lesley Smyth about 6 months ago on Instagram and was captivated by her colour and beautiful hand-painted objects. I got in touch to discover more.

Hi Lesley, thanks for taking part in my blog post. How did you first get interested in painting and art?

I don’t know! It’s just something I’ve always had in my life. I grew up in a noisy house (4 siblings) and I think drawing and doodling was my refuge from it all. There have been long periods when I didn’t paint or draw because life took over, but Ive always come back to it. Even when I wasn’t painting I’d still look for inspiration in my surroundings- storing up ideas for when I would. In recent years I’ve been painting more, and I feel like it’s a kind of therapy. There’s nothing I like better than a day of painting and listening to a good podcast or music, and blocking out the noise of the world.

What did you do prior to working as an artist?

At college I studied industrial ceramics and quickly learned I was only interested in the decoration part. For a couple of years after college I designed patterns for fabric and wallpaper. Although I loved this, I found it isolating and wanted to be out mixing with people. I started painting furniture and this led to learning decorative paint finishes and for many years I’ve been working in peoples homes painting murals, colour washing, stencilling etc.

Where did your love of folk art come from?

From an early age I’ve collected postcards from museums and ripped out pages from magazines. I’m drawn to simplicity and naïve art. As well as folk art I love embroidery, medieval art (my final show pieces at college were spice jars inspired by medieval paintings), mosaics and many painters with a naïve style.

Do your illustrations take inspiration from one style or country?

I get a lot of inspiration from travelling, visiting museums, just being in a different environment and experiencing a different culture. I look for pattern everywhere I go. Italy would be my go to country for inspiration – so many treasures to be found there. But there is inspiration to be found everywhere. Sometimes on a drive to work I’ll see something and make a mental note .

How do you formulate your colour palette?

I love colour, and I love to see how colours work together. It’s usually experimental. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I always find it interesting how a background colour can completely change the colour on top of it. I’ve recently been using an orange/red as a background and I’m loving the effect it has – it makes everything around it stand out. 

I have my go to favourite colours – blues and greens usually soft greyish versions of these colours and then I add various colours. I have a Pinterest board called ‘colour combos’ that I sometimes look at if I need some inspiration or feel stuck. Maybe because I’ve been working in interiors for years that has helped too. 

Currently I use a mix of gouache, chalk paint and good old emulsion (I have hundreds of sample pots because of the day job). I really love the flat quality of these paints. I usually wax afterwards, sometimes varnish for a nice soft protective finish 

Are there any contemporary artists whose work inspires or influences you?

I’m not sure if you’d call them contemporary- but my favourite artists would be Winnifred Nicholson, Alfred Wallis and Mary Fedden. O my goodness I wish I could paint like they do!! I’m always drawn to paintings with sea, boats and buildings. They all have that simplistic style that I love – but it certainly isn’t easy to paint like that. 

In today’s world of art I love Janine Burrows and  Jane Askey. Again boats, buildings and sea. I also like some abstract artists – when they have a colour palette that appeals to me. 

Where do you see your work going in the next few years? 

I would like to develop my work and get it onto greetings cards, wrapping paper, fabric etc. I’d like to do a range for kids too. But in the meantime I think I need to keep practicing and to develop my style and portfolio. 

What is your favourite subject matter to paint? 

Well it’s definitely birds, flowers and animals. But I also love geometric patterns and I like to combine the two. Old buildings are also interesting to me. I’ve been doing a lot of farmhouse style buildings but I would like to try some different ones. 

If you could place your work in any shop, website, museum right now, where would it be? 

Well any would be good!!!! But my favourites would be Liberty, V&A, Anthropologie. Crickey how amazing would that be!!! 

I loved looking through your work and reading your replies Lesley, thanks so much for taking part. You can purchase Lesley’s work on her Etsy shop here.