Irene Brierton

I take the greatest inspiration for my distinctive watercolours of this country’s wildlife from my native county Derbyshire and from wildlife encounters on the Somerset levels and Isle of Mull.

 My fascination with all manner of creatures from earliest childhood grew alongside a natural interest and talent for drawing, which almost inevitably led to my becoming a wildlife artist. The focus of my work was a foregone conclusion. My subjects choose themselves, inspiring me to feature them in my paintings. The Brown Hare especially, following many brilliant encounters has become a particular favourite.

 I loved drawing in pencil and after moving on to concentrate on painting found  that watercolour was my ideal medium. I especially love its immediacy and I went on to develop my own technique and colour palette. Mine is not a typical approach to watercolour painting but it suits me to a T.

 Some of my paintings show my subject in straightforward detail without a background, others place my subject in its environment, sometimes complete with a detailed background. Recently I have been combining pen and ink with watercolour to great effect, using it to place my subject within its habitat, lending it added prominence, as seen in ‘Kingfisher on Cromford Canal’.

 Following early successful exhibitions in London with the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour and the Society of Widlife Artists, in 1988 I was awarded membership of the Society of Women Artists and in 2010, membership of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers.

In November I will be back in London at the Bankside Gallery with the RMS.