Rosie Davies

By Rosie Davies

Where are you from originally, and where are you now?

Streetly, Sutton Coldfield, Staffordshire. Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, Wrexham.

How did you get started as an artist?

Trained in Fashion & Design at Stafford in the late 1980s.

What medium/media do you work in?

Watercolour and pen and ink.

How would you describe your work?

My work varies from large scale flower studies to landscapes that are illustrative, not strictly traditional, full of colour and with a nod to contemporary.

What are your influences and inspirations? Do you draw inspiration from your local area?

Georgia O'Keefe and Elizabeth Blackadder heavily influence my flower studies though my fashion design background also plays a part.

My landscapes are inspired by the beautiful Ceiriog Valley where I live. The Berwyn hills, the field shapes, windblown hawthorn, drovers' roads all just make me want to put colour to paper.

Where has your work been shown?

Plas Newydd; Y Caban Gallery; Oriel, The Royal Pavilion; Llangollen Art for Landscape; Wrexham Open; Oswestry Visitor & Exhibition Centre; Shropshire Open.

What are your views on the current scene nationally and locally?

Went to Pembrokshire recently...the artists there enjoy good support from their Council. There's lots of road signs to the galleries and craft centres that are not in the towns.

The artists I chatted to said there was a healthy and profitable art trade. I can't say about a national situation though I do know the current financial climate in the country must mean bad news for many.

Anything else we should know?

I attended Wrexham Council's Conference, 'Taking the Arts Forward'. I got the general impression that most of the people there were involved with drama and the stage, and did not get terribly good vibes about Wrexham's promotion of the arts.

We need a platform, a good website that tells the world where we are and about the wealth of talent in the area. There was no mention of the painters, potters, sculptors, basket-makers, illustrators, environmental artists, people who work with glass, textiles, metal, new-media and printing. There are so many of us and we are not all working in the towns.