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About Lorraine Simonds
LORRAINE SIMONDS
My name is Lorraine and I create watercolour paintings that journal and process the personal thoughts, emotions and memories that ruminate in my mind and heart.
I’m a Jesus believing, scotch sipping, Brazilian jiu jitsu fighting, plant watering, Rottweiler walking, bass playing, scuba diving, shouty, deep thinking, stubborn, only child, a loyal sister to many, and a wife of one. But at the end of the day, I’m an imperfect person striving to walk in perfect love with any and all.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My expressive brushwork in watercolour serves as a medium to process personal thoughts and observations of suffering and beauty that I journal. Themes of the temporal, longing, suffering, vanity, and memory are explored in my work, which is intentionally contrasted by the use of vibrant and illuminating colours.My recent works feature a play between comfortable tolerance of vague, abstracted forms and places of clarity and high-detail rendering. The style of my paintings nods to the brushwork and ethos of my Chinese heritage and Western education, which had been a point of contention and distress in my early childhood.
However, today, I work from a place that is firmly seated in a position of simultaneous sadness and deep-rooted joy. My art serves as a testament to the complexity of my experiences and emotions, allowing me to communicate my innermost thoughts and feelings with the world.
Artist Biography
Lorraine's passion for the visual arts began in her early childhood in Plymouth, England, where she was self-taught and read many books on drawing. Her father's outings to the English Moorlands were a source of inspiration, and she spent hours capturing the landscape. As a teenager, Lorraine honed her skills in portraiture using acrylic and oil mediums. Later, at Plymouth College of Art & Design, she formalized her ideas on contrast, focus, and composition in film photography.While pursuing her BA in Fine Art at the University of Leeds, Lorraine explored micro sculptures, photography, animation, and performance art, and built a strong foundation in the history of art and philosophy. After graduation, Lorraine lived in Kuala Lumpur before moving to Squamish, Canada, in 2009. Here, her passion for the visual arts developed vocationally through her work in branding, photography, graphic and interior design as a hospitality professional, as well as through extensive volunteer work.
Although Lorraine had set aside her brush for some time, the pandemic prompted her to return to her artistic roots. Her post-pandemic work reflects her adult education, informal practice in counselling, and extensive travels to over 20 countries from 2017 to 2019, which have deepened her understanding of the human condition and the complexities that unite us all.
Through her work, Lorraine seeks to capture the essence of our shared humanity and to communicate the beauty and struggles that unite us all. Her diverse background and experiences inform her art, which continues to evolve and inspire.
Rockwell Art Canada
International Brand Ambassador
An honoured International Brand Ambassador of Rockwell Art Supplies, maker of the most unique and fine mineral watercolour and artist pigments.
As my friends, you can receive 10% DISCOUNT on all your purchases with Rockwell Canada by using my code LORRAINE01 at Rockwell Art check out.
Inspiration
I gather artistic inspiration from watercolour artists Yuko Nagayama,Jean Haines and Angela Fehr for their expressive brushwork, understanding of atmosphere and her attraction to the raw and “unfinished” parts of their work.
Techniques
Much of Lorraine’s current work is accomplished purely in watercolour and without any preliminary sketches or underdrawings.
FUN FACTS
I have a head-turning cackle and I’m not afraid to use in public.
The Vancouver - Squamish - Whistler corridor has been her home since 2009, of which she produces the majority of her work from her home studio in Squamish.
