Ellen Webster
MA Painting
Ellen Webster’s paintings embody fleeting and ephemeral moments that investigate the interplay between painting and the photographic image. Found photographic images, film stills and personal snapshots exist as prompts that she will select, edit or crop to then translate into paintings. She is particularly drawn to images that present a moment on the precipice of action or overlooked details, which through the act of painting can be encapsulated and elevated. Her subject matter varies yet regular motifs in her work include objects such as cakes and expressions of subjects that are all relative to her interest in transience. She seeks for her paintings to serve as ambiguous and alluring visual clues that are part of a wider narrative, surrounding notions of celebration, memory and transience. The process of reconfiguring images through paint allows her to explore the potential of the source material and paint. The paintings are made by combining methodical approaches with more gestural applications of paint. Transparent oil paint is often applied in careful glazes as well as loose paint marks to celebrate the versatility of paint. This combination of gesture yet precision also creates an interesting interplay between representation and abstraction in her paintings. Her initial reaction to the source imagery influences her choice of colour and mark making. Often smudging or removing the paint she seeks for the blurry paint marks to be embodied as traces of a memory. Ultimately, she is challenging how the materiality of paint can embody a particular feeling or experience.
