What inspires me - part 1

“Bull in a China Shop” - Acrylic on museum grade glass and paper.

Prehistoric Cave Paintings

Hello again and thanks for joining me on my musings about art!

I studied Art History as part of my degree and loved learning about all the wonderful creations that came before me. The curriculum did not cover prehistoric art forms, it was only after I’d moved to London, when I started painting animals that I realised my style and use of colour has similarities to that of prehistoric cave paintings, specifically those found in Lascaux caves in France for example.

I decided to visit those caves on my next trip to France and went with a friend in 2016. The paintings are reproductions as the original caves are closed to visitors for conservation reasons. The reproductions are stunning and true to the originals; I absolutely loved seeing them and was blown away; these amazing paintings were done about 40,000 years ago (don’t quote me on this but I bought books on the subject afterwards) deep inside the caves, on very high walls that required scaffolding and lamps (they would have used oil lamps which can’t have provided much light and yet they managed to paint huge, intricate and symmetrical patterns).

I was amazing (and still am!) by how accurate the depictions were (the lines, the movement of the aurochs (prehistoric cattle now extinct), horses and deer. How lifelike they look and how they are painted to mirror each other across the walls. Some entire herds were painted galloping across an entire section - just stunning!

I’m fascinated by the fact that people were creating art so many years ago with limited materials (colours were mixed from charcoal, rocks and plants). I love that humans have always had the instinct and drive to create art.

That’s it for this blog post! I hope you enjoyed reading it and there is more to come in the “What Inspires Me” series!