It is the effect of light on objects which sparks off my interest in painting still-life. Marianne Edwards 1981
This retrospective exhibition of Marianne Edwards work will explore her delicate use of light as a unifying factor in her paintings, first using oil on canvas and then pastels on card. Marianne has been painting in North Devon for more than 50 years.
Marianne started painting at adult education classes in 1965, and when her children were older she studied Fine Art as a mature student, gaining her degree from Exeter College of Art and Design in 1977. Since then Marianne has had fifteen one woman exhibitions in the south of England, and her work has been included in exhibitions at the Mall Galleries, London, the Royal West of England Academy, and Newlyn Art Gallery.
The exhibition looks at how Marianne’s love of light flows through each new avenue of her creative journey. Her first interest was in figures situated against the light, and light filtering through and over the folds of pale fabrics. This led Marianne explore the patterns of sand ridges on a beach and the changing light of sea and sky. More recently shifting patterns of light passing through trees and over water define space. She aims to weave these patterns into memorable images, finding pastel an ideal medium where small strokes are applied to create a dense matt finish.
She works in a small studio extension of a comfortable family home on the outskirts of Barnstaple – a home of modern design where light and air are paramount – just as they are in so many of Marianne’s paintings. Devon Life Sep 1981 Susan Seward
