Rosie Mckenzie

ARTIST NOTES

Introduction
Rosie has always preferred being far away from towns and cities so as be totally immersed in nature. As a child she would often go on long bike rides, taking her sketch book with her, as well as joining her mother on painting holidays and expeditions. Boarding school life, too, was much ameliorated by the opportunities to explore woodlands, sea shores and the Yorkshire Moors. Many twists and turns in life meant that it was to be many years later before she finally rediscovered her love of painting, and in 2013 she gained a Foundation Degree in Lanscape and Garden Design, which was then followed by a BA (Hons) in Arts Practice. Since then, Rosie has produced an ever-increasing body of highly expressive work, inspired to a great extent by the Suffolk countryside where she lives, as well as her memories of life in Yorkshire and holidays in Cumbria. Her compositions are tangibly impressionistic and the palette she uses is often energised by her use of bold colour.

Seasonal Paintings
Rosie’s paintings are very much inspired by the changing seasons, and she is drawn to landscapes that naturally suggest exciting (sometimes vivid) colour tones. For instance, spring lets her focus on lush, green grasses, wonderful arrays of wildflowers and big, bright skies; whilst late summer and autumn tend to suggest hues such as harvest golds, pumpkin oranges and apple reds. The late year also holds the expectation of being teased out into a chill terrain that is happily disengaged from its human population, yet still holding surprises such as turbulent skies and starkly dramatic prisms of colour in the landscape. Living in close proximity to the Suffolk coast, she is also inspired by the elemental side of nature, whether that be experiencing the secret wildlife of woodlands, the vastness and variety of landscape, the windswept heathlands or the mercurial personality of the sea.