About my current collection - The Turning of the Sun
Paintings with gold leaf to light the winter solstice
As we come out of the darkest days of the year and look towards spring I reflect again upon the changing light.
In my work I am searching for calm in the world that we might hope to find in an enclosed garden or in a forest. In this collection my paintings celebrate the natural world and the animals and birds that exist in a finely balanced harmony.
Everything is connected. I look to sacred geometry, exploring the amazing connections that you see in natural patterns - in circles and pentagons, spirals and triangles, to portray connections and symmetry. Medieval and ancient art are a great inspiration. You will find the influence of Indian and Persian art in my work, as well as Islamic art, the European tradition of illuminated manuscripts, Renaissance colours, Italian altarpieces and Egyptian mosaics. To draw these elements together is a way to draw people together, in the same way as music can forge relationships throughout the world and help us understand each other better.
In my keynote painting, called The Turning of the Sun I use handmade paints made by my friend Louise Ann Wright who grows indigo and makes her own paints from this and other pigments. You will see the sun and moon in balance in the cosmos, and the dance of creatures around the sun that gives life to us all.
Exploring the use of gold leaf and watercolour on paper I carry on a tradition of using gold in art that is centuries old. The gold will catch the faintest glimmer of light and glow with a warmth that is both comforting and energising.
There is a word I have just discovered, ‘apricity’. It means the warmth of the sun on a winter’s day. This is what I hope to bring to you with these paintings.
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Born in Zimbabwe, I grew up from the age of four in the North East of England, moved to Cambridge then lived in Europe and Kenya for some years. All the places I traveled to influenced the way I paint. I now live in a town house in Shrewsbury on the border with Wales.
About me
'I draw inspiration from the natural world and from Indo-Persian and Medieval traditions in art.'
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I am self taught as an artist. My curiosity about the world drew me to Cambridge to study geography – one of the first women at my college in its 400-year history. Then, finding myself a single parent with two small children, I turned my passion into my career. I started working as a freelance illustrator, illustrating children’s books, designing cards and licensing art for merchandise. The stories I brought to life were myths and folktales from around the world.
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My light-filled studio sits in the town centre high above the River Severn. I find endless inspiration in the river and the beautiful Shropshire countryside. Drawing on memories of living in different parts of the world, deep childhood impressions from the North York Moors, the Essex coast where I used to stay with my Gran, and Zimbabwe where I was born.
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My rambling old house was once part of a nursing home: more than one visitor has told me their mum or their uncle was born in the room where I paint. It gives it a very positive vibe. I’ve lived in this house for 30 years, filled it with books and textiles and created a garden, with winding paths, turns and surprises – and always full of birdsong!
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'English artist Linda Edwards’s brilliant paintings in jewel-like colors and pure 24-carat gold leaf tell the stories of paradisiacal gardens. Inspired by the so-called miniature paintings in medieval and early modern European and Islamic manuscripts, Linda frees these influences from the constraints of the page. Her larger-scale work is populated with an abundance of flora and fauna—some familiar, some rather exotic. But it is her generous and masterful use of gold that ultimately conjures a secret world of beauty and tranquility. Its reflective quality creates an ever-changing dynamism that sometimes reveals “hidden” details engraved therein.'
Walter Meyer, Curator and Gallerist, founder of Art Without Boundaries
See my archive of sold work here