Artists' Quarter

I first became interested in painting through a love of portraiture. I was fascinated by the process of expressing a person’s personality and spirit in a picture. I started painting landscapes (and cabbages on request) several years later, and still approach a landscape in the same way as a portrait, being interested in expressing the individual atmosphere of a place, through  the use of light and colour, and occasional touches of fantasy. Whatever the subject I try to give it a sense of presence that gives the picture its effect and character.

Jessica Alys

My dreamcatcher paintings are also a form of portrait -  a way of expressing people's dreams. They are based on a Native American Indian tradition of dream catchers, which are made out of wood, twine, feathers and other valued objects. They are hung in windows and openings to allow only meaningful dreams.

These paintings, and greetings cards, are part-collage, part-painted images. They have a dreamlike quality as the images shift and change depending on how you look at them. With these you can bring your dreams into reality, if only in two dimensions!
  
I work in charcoal, oils and pastels. I like pastels for their timeless quality and oils for the strength of colour. I started painting 12 years ago and have had a solo show of portraits in the Yorkshire Terrier, as well as paintings permanently on display in Aligator Wholefoods.

I carry out commissions both for portraits and landscapes working from photographs and life. When working solely from photographs I use one main photograph for the image and several others to give me a more rounded view of a personality. I enjoy the process of bringing the photographic image to life, particularly if it comes from the distant past.

Jessica Alys