Tamzin Blair

 

Tamzin says; I really enjoy painting  children, I guess because their beauty and magic really shine out to me.  I love to capture  those moments that we all remember - being lost in our own play-  world: climbing, paddling on the beach, standing in the rain.  I'm inspired very  much by my own children, as well as memories of being  little.

My work is more about being there with that child in the moment rather than  looking at them from the outside. Seeing the world as they see it ;where clouds  become herds of flying cows, where leaves are filled with magical powers  and  kites can pull you into the sky with them.

When I paint I often start by pouring water over paint and then tipping the canvas. This gives the paint a life of it's own. It feels amazing this moment because it is so exciting and unexpected.  What will the paint do? How can I work with this movement?  It is like painting with a huge and beautiful friend who always has original and unexpected ideas . This is where a lot of the movement in my painting springs from.  


I compare what paint, water and movement do when painting to the everyday forces of nature that shape and change the environment. For example how wind will form the patterns of sand on a beach. On a smaller scale I work with water, wind, gravity, chance to shape and move paint. It's so exciting and always takes me in new directions.