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Blog Post By Yay Retro

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Blog Post By Yay Retro

September 30th, 2014 - Frodsham, Ch

ay retro! talk Painting & Vintagewares with Annabel Burton

If you follow this blog you will know that yay retro! like to feature some of the wonderful artists we come across when wandering online. Recently we have fallen for the work of Annabel Burton an artist based in Cheshire. Annabel paints sensitive, small landscapes and still life arrangements in beautiful subtle tones and really interesting colour combinations from her studio halfway between Chester and Manchester.

She studied Fine Art in Leeds, and then almost immediately got married and had children. This meant that her art went on the backburner for quite some time. However, in 2009 she began making and creating again, and at the time loved working with vintage textiles. After a fantastic response to a line and wash drawing of a robin she painted as a giveaway on her facebook page last year, she has returned to painting on canvas as well as watercolour.

Annabel's inspiration comes from many sources - she says, 'I am like sponge soaking up anything from a magazine photo, to the changing seasons and foliage to 20th century textile designs, illustration, and a lifetime of being exposed to visual influences and art.' She love's folk art, canal barge painting, vintage ceramic surface decoration, and contemporary landscape artists. For her, the traditional themes of still life and landscape continue to be a source of inspiration but with a renewed approach derived from the influence of contemporary graphic design as in greetings cards, textiles etc and new media.

She also loves to paint white cottages set in a landscape (see below), and says, 'having lived in white cottages for much of my life it makes sense for them to be incorporated in my work. I think there is a nostalgia for places that are comfortable, peaceful and a refuge from the world's madness'.

Annabel works and lives in a converted barn, and can see trees and a country lane from her window. Naturally these influence her work. She tells us, 'everything is in a state of flux, and I love the changing seasons. What was once in bloom a few months ago now lies dried up and skeletal. The colour changes in the seasons are always so surprising'. Interestingly, she uses her iphone as a visual notebook, nowadays, and no longer uses a sketchbook.

Recently her work has featured beautiful vintage china jugs and flowers, ideas for these works come from simple arrangements around her country home and garden. We love the way Annabel applies her paint and the rich underpaintings which bring warmth and depth to her work.

She says she is, 'surrounded by antiques and vintage' where she lives. It is a rented property and was last furnished in the 70's complete with an avocado bathroom suite with gold dolphin taps! The kitchen even has original 1970's units. Her garden is packed full of flowers and these feature in many of her works - we just adore the little birds which sneak in too!

Annabel tell us loves vintage linen, and grew up with Wood's berylware crockery. In fact her cat's bowl is Wood's Berylware! She also loves to look out for vintage china such as Susie Cooper designs, which she collects.

After visiting the yay retro! online vintage shop, Annabel was inspired to create a small watercolour of one of the 1970s enamel coffee pots we have for sale (above). She says, 'Wow! There so many beautiful items in your shop - the Annemarie Figgjo Flint dish caught my eye, as I love the bold design.' Who knows maybe this will appear in one of her paintings someday?

Annabel paints most days and sells her work directly via her Facebook page Cherry Tree Handmades and from her website, also via Pixels.com. You can contact Annabel directly on Facebook or via her website to discuss commissions. She has been so busy and successful that as yet she hasn't approached any galleries, however that is her plan in the next year or two.

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