Curriculum Vitae
Poppy Cyster
Artists Statement:

Since my early childhood I have always been drawn to experimenting with paint in all its forms. My work to this day continues to encompass a wide variety of mediums. Painting has always been the one thing in my life I really needed to do.

Having grown up in Fife, Scotland and originally studied art at St Leonards school St Andrews, the Scottish landscape and coastal scenes have always been one of my greatest sources of inspiration, and continue to influence my work in terms of light, colour and form. My education was furthered by a Fine Art degree in Leicester. Where some of my pieces have been purchased by the Leicester Country Council for their Artworks Collection. And were awarded the Artworks Collection Prize 2005. My work has also been in the Junction exhibition, Leicester and The Aquarium exhibition, St Andrews.

To a large extent I paint in an intuitive manner, this maintains a fresh and lively atmosphere within the canvas. Sections of the paintings are worked in a spontaneous way, yet each painting is approached with a certain structure the work is then carried forward in an instinctive manner. Within the paintings, line, form, space and colour vie for attention. There are rhythms set up to direct the eye around the canvas, throughout the surface there are calm areas acting as resting points for the eye to which allow the viewer focal points before the attention is directed elsewhere.

I use a variety of paint types: shiny oils and waxy encaustics are used in combination to play against one another and emphasise their different characteristics, most effectively where areas overlap and interact. A variety of tools are used to manipulate the work, including knives scrapers and squeegees. These are methods of applying paint can accurately preserve my movements and gestures. Paint is also poured and dripped directly onto the canvas, which adds the element of chance, as it is not entirely foreseeable or subject to control.

A vital component in the work is colour and how it behaves, a sense of duration or “time” is involved as some colours reveal themselves immediately. Other tones are much closer and take longer to read in relation to other colour within the painting. To “slow down” the pace in certain areas families of colours are grouped together, then bold contrasts are introduced to highlight the shift in dynamics.

Many paintings hover between abstract compositions of line and colour and representations of nature itself.