Joan G Edwards - the return to painting
After years in which the only outlet for her own creativity was rapid demonstration pieces produced as examples for her students, such as this drawing on sugar paper, 'Firebird', which she retained, it was only in the late 1970s with the ending of her teaching commitments that Joan Edwards set herself the real task of becoming a painter again, finding a subject and a style. The many dead and fallen trees that had appeared in the landscape as a result of Dutch Elm disease began to fascinate her, with their sculptural forms and complexity, their somewhat surreal and disturbing presence. |
Firebird
pen & ink and gouache, 190 x 160 mm private collection, UK |
Gone the Wild Day (1984)
oil on canvas, 915 x 610 mm collection of the artist |
More abstract recomposition of landscape elements was explored, as in 'Rocky Inlet' below, but classic landscapes were not ignored, the small oil 'On the Way to Godolphin' being a particularly attractive example. All fed into her mature style. |