Amy Shuckburgh: Vibrant interpretations of still life, domestic scenes and landscape

Amy Shuckburgh works in oil paint, soft pastel and collage, using strong colour and energetic marks to explore scenes of domestic life, as well as rural and urban landscapes. Amy’s landscapes are preoccupied with how environment affects mood. Inspired by expressionism and fauvism, she augments colours and uses dynamic brushstrokes to convey the emotion felt in a place. Amy frequently uses poetry as a catalyst for my compositions and in the titles of her work.

Her drawings and paintings of motherhood and the home explore internal landscapes with a focus on narrative, memory and time.

Here we chat with Amy about her journeys far…

Can you tell us your backstory and how you got into the art world?

I have been drawing and painting all my life. There are photos of me on childhood holidays and I’m often sitting apart with my sketchbook! My family are all creative – musicians, writers and makers, and my interests and experiments were actively encouraged when I was growing up. I studied drawing and painting at a range of places over the years, including at the Slade, the Royal Drawing School and L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

I studied a BA in English Literature, and books – especially poetry – still inform my work, as both a stimulus and another creative outlet. Later on, I got an MA in contemporary curating at Goldsmiths, and that just made me want to be a practising artist all the more! I absolutely love my job as a professional artist, taking commissions, exhibiting, sharing and selling my work internationally. It’s the best job in the world.

How would you describe your signature style and technique?

My work is full of colour, feeling and energy. I use oil paint and soft pastel to explore landscapes and figures. My drawings and paintings seek to capture the vibrancy and emotion I feel when I am in a place or in a situation. I paint both rural and urban landscapes, which contain very different types of frequency, layered stories, and moods. My internal, domestic scenes also explore the portrayal of mood and emotion, as well as having a quiet narrative element.

These scenes often capture intimate moments between mothers and children and began because of a very personal desire to record my own experience of motherhood. I try to render feeling through my use of colour. I work quite instinctively, layering pigment and marks quite forcefully, directly onto the canvas or paper, and sometimes returning to pieces over many months or years, to build up elements of movement, vibration and complexity. Whether a painting or a drawing comes about quickly, in a few hours, or slowly, over many months or years, I am always trying to keep my work feeling spontaneous, fresh and alive.

Can you tell us about your latest work? Where did you find inspiration and what is the story behind it?

I’ve recently completed a trio of large oil landscape paintings which were wonderful to work on and which now sit beautifully in the client’s home. The client gave me a very open brief – to paint trees – and entrusted me to compose three canvases each measuring 120x120cm. I was inspired by the woods at the end of my garden which I painted in different seasons: autumn, summer and winter.

I paint woodland, footpaths and holloways a lot in my practice, so it was a lovely extension of the work I have been concentrating on in the studio for some time. I have also just finished a large drawing of a family group in soft pastel on paper, capturing a quiet moment of a mother reading with her two children. The commission involved a sitting with the family in their home and discussion about where the painting would end up in their home. I was involved in the framing too, which really completes the overall feel of the piece.

Are there any exhibitions or events you are planning?

I have just collaborated with my filmmaker husband on a new short film of me working in my studio which I can’t wait to share. I am also having a major rejig of my website which will make it easier to buy work directly online. And I am having a new logo designed, which I’m really excited about. You can sign up to my mailing list on my website, or on Instagram (@amyshuckburghart) to hear about future exhibitions and events in the pipeline.

I am also in a group show at Moncrieff-Bray Gallery, near Petworth in Sussex, until 15 June. The show contains lots of my landscapes in soft pastel, some large lively still life drawings, and a brand new series of my motherhood work in oil and pastel. I have also got three paintings on show at The Sill in Northumberland, an exhibition organised by Unison Colour.

What is the best advice you received as an artist?

The best advice I ever received was to remain playful. I completed the Artist’s Way (by Julia Cameron) last year and going through the 12-week programme which is aimed at unblocking creativity, was revelatory, getting me to see my practice in a new light.

For more information please visit amyshuckburgh.com