Molly Christodoulou
Do you concentrate on one medium, or do you work in several?
I mainly work in acrylic paint. I love the versatility and spontaneity I can achieve with it as well as the tactile feel. I like to play with water and the differing opacity I can achieve when building up layers. I will sometimes collage over old journal pages to transform the memories they hold into something new. There are occasional guest appearances from oil sticks, oil pastels and pencils.
Tell us about your workspace.
I work in a studio at home that used to be the spare bedroom. It’s my oasis of creativity and chaos away from the demands of the rest of the house. There’s a tree outside where a pair of wood pigeons raise a chick each year. It’s full of photos, objects from my travels and every sketchbook I’ve used since I was 11. My dream studio would be a treehouse in an ancient woodland.
What inspires you?
Those moments when I feel connected to myself and to nature, when I feel completely present exactly where I am. In the studio I translate these embodied experiences, often painting with my hands and using large bodily gestures, before building up layers. I will work on several canvases at once, quickly moving between them so that each painting maintains energy. I’m really interested in the change and motion found in nature, from the micro movements of breath in meditation, through wind and rushing water to the traverse of celestial bodies. Forests, water and mountains hold particular significance for me as these environments bring me grounding and uplifting joy. I know a painting is finished when it feels like being outside.
Do you have a favourite piece in your Little Gallery exhibition?
Sheltered is my favourite, the process of creating the ambiguity between water, land and light was a really dreamlike part of painting it. I didn’t feel like I had to wrestle with it so it appeared quickly and I loved it immediately. It had pride of place in my living room before coming to the Little Gallery.
How did you start doing what you do?
I’ve always loved drawing and painting but I started seriously again in the pandemic. My work as a therapist was temporarily on hold and I picked up the paintbrushes again to reignite a hobby and quickly became deeply obsessed with it and have not looked back!
Do you work on your creative business full time, or do you have another job as well?
My only paid work is as an artist although I work part time as I’m also raising two young daughters. I was previously a teacher and then a psychotherapist but I find that this work fits me much better than anything else has. An artist is who I am, not what I do.
If you have spare time, what do you do with it?
I love walking and being outdoors in whatever way I can. I’m well into food, particularly growing my own vegetables and I love cooking outside. I have a regular yoga practice, dabble in bouldering and wild swimming is something I adore and want to do much more of. When I’m still you’ll find me curled up with my cat and an epic fantasy novel. All of this feeds into the work, my time away from the studio experiencing and connecting to the world is vital.
What’s next for you?
I am lucky enough to have been awarded LEVEL Centre’s Spotlight for which I will be immersing myself in the woodlands, including a mini residency in their art block. I expect to be spending a lot of time amongst trees sketching and then delving into how to translate that feeling into the motion of paint. I will also be exploring how my unique sensory experiences from my balance disorder feed into how I paint. This will culminate in a solo exhibition at LEVEL from January-April 2027, which is just across the road from The Derbyshire Makers gallery!
