CELIA WASHINGTON, THE MAGIC REALIST OF PRIMROSE HILL

Adam Reeves

10 months ago

Advertisements

Celia Washington was born in Edinburgh in 1959. Her father was in the British Army which meant her family moved house a lot. This sense of movement developed the idea for all of the colourful transitions and creative contrasts featured in her paintings from this experience.

A WALK IN THE PARK BY CELIA WASHINGTON

This painting makes me think of a distressed woman walking through a park. This painting could also be a Middle Eastern park as this is where she grew up. There is also a sense of calmness in this painting through the red birds settling on a tree. As well as the bird calmly positioned where her hand would be. A Walk in the Park features a strong sense of contrast through the woman looking anxiously distressed and the birds nestled relaxedly on the tree. Therefore, this shows how Celia Washington is a majestic realist because she explores the fact that humans and animals could be experiencing different emotions in any nature setting.

THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY

From my interpretation The Day Before Yesterday seems to feature two women behaving hyperactively in an open grass space. This is shown through one of the women jumping up in the air and through having two red marks below her eyes. The other woman also looks hyperactive through her facial expression. In this work the contrast of light and heat is coming out through the sun being in its dark orange state in the skyline. Overall, I interpret this painting as being two women being happily hyperactive in a park.

SALOME’S CHOICE BY CELIA WASHINGTON

Salome’s Choice stood out strongly towards me because it shows the gruesome image of an animal holding a head in its mouth. The painting shows dark and cold images because they both have a dark black and blue background. The animals both have saddles on them which shows that people can sit and ride on them. The animal in the lower painting that has strong hot colours makes me think of the summer because that is the season those colours are associated with. Celia might have come up with the idea of the presentation of the two art works from riding in the desert and also in the fells of the lake district. Therefore, this would have enabled her to contrast light and heat, as well as dark and cold from being in the two environments.

I had a fantastically artistic time at the exhibition through walking around looking at Celia’s different works of art. She has done an amazing job through making her art work seem majestical in realistic environments. Celia has clearly developed her contrast varieties well through doing interesting activities in such distinctive environments. For example, she has swum in the Red Sea with shark nets. In analysis, this would have clearly enhanced her passion for the creative contrasts.