Jude Askey-Brown

Jude’s paintings celebrate the beauty and texture of everyday life, drawing on memories of gardens, found objects and treasured textiles.  Her current collection is inspired by memories of the windowsills at her grandfather’s cottage, crammed full of his overwintered geraniums and cuttings taken in the autumn to plant as soon as the spring warmth appeared.  The geraniums were often a tangled mess of woody stems, dried leaves and flowers with glimmers of bright green new growth.  The row of terracotta pots, some chipped and cracked and the earthy smell when he watered them.

Working from observation, sketches and photographs of her garden, Jude builds her paintings in translucent layers of paint, allowing glimpses of earlier marks to remain.  She uses brushes, rags and scrapers to create a surface with multiple layers, choosing oils as her medium because she enjoys how the paint glides and allows the translucent glow of burnt sienna and the thick, buttery richness of yellow ochre.