Do you have any early memories of being attracted to the arts?
I was born in Durban, South Africa with all the vibrant colours from the Zulu culture. I also spent time in Australia as a child, a small sleepy town called Blackrock in Melbourne. There the organic and natural shapes from the aboriginal art inspired me.
Eventually I went back to South Africa, spent my teens in Somerset West by Cape Town, which had more of an international creative influx, rich with diverse mediums and larger scale art .
As a child I was quite isolated so I have always been very imaginative, I even had imaginary friends. I think sometimes my mum worried a little about me but she was persistent with me succeeding in school and my art which I am internally grateful for. I have always been creative, I drew, I painted and I made sculptures.
Did you do any painting in school?
I was always stuck in the art room at school, I still am. I would make friends with the arts teacher when I was younger. I can remember winning little competitions when I was a kid at school. I remember winning a colouring-in competition in Australia.
Did you get support at home?
My mum encouraged me with art. My mum is a creative person from painting and decorating houses to dabbling with art classes, doing paint by numbers and copying paintings that she likes. My Nanna used to paint traditional landscapes with pictures of the old masters of painting on her walls. My mum would make an art space in the house were I would spend my free time, my break time, drawing and painting.
What about school. Any support there?
In high school the art teacher would set you tasks to draw or paint using photographs from the National Geographic magazine and the teacher would pick the photographs. I do remember getting a photographer, who took photographs of me that I took to the teacher and that was accepted as something I could work from, but it wasn’t really a supportive style of teaching. It was a particularly controlling way of teaching.
Do you go on to post-secondary education?
I did do the foundation and an HND course in Fine Art and at some point I would like to go to University. I find the schooling system difficult to conform to though so am a bit reluctant.
How did you develop your craft and your skills?
I did that just by doing it, being an active painter. It was only by going to Art College in later years and looking up the work of artists, starting investigating artists I admired, that I would find work that I might have been influenced by.
Most of the artists who inspire me are artists who work and are active here, like Bill Gatt, Jamie Harper, Lee Boyd, Paddy Bloomer and plenty more. There are loads of local artists who inspire me rather than the big famous artists.
What style do you use?
That is an interesting question because I paint a lot and I paint a lot of different subjects. People do tell me that despite the fact that I paint quite differently for each subject, they can see my style coming through in the work. As regards style, I like a good story, so I want to convey the sense of story in my work. I also like a sense of movement, life.
I am reasonably quick to draw the outline of the subject and from there I really like using dark, earthy colours, I like Browns, Blues and burnt Siennas with a variety of blues added in. Iv been was inspired by old classical painters, like Rubens, and so I do consider that I am trying to paint light and dark, rather than colour directly.
I describe myself as a Fine Artist, and I really do want my paintings to look like paintings. I do want the features of a subject to be identifiable and I want to capture the finer points in a portrait. However, I also want to capture character, sometimes I think that I have made a painting a little too fine, a little too clean, a little too nice, and I find that I need to work over the painting again and build up a sense of energy. I sort of break the painting to bring it back to something which exudes energy and movement.
Do you mix your own colours?
I paint using water colours, acrylics and oil, so what I use changes depending on what I’m painting. Over the years I have noticed what colours talk to me, I automatically am drawn to certain shades and colour combinations, these penetrate whatever medium I’m using.
What about themes?
I tend to paint more females, women; I use myself as a model as well in my work. I would say I’m trying to express a certain feeling about the subjects I paint. Often they are in water, I am drawn to water, I think about water, I dream about breathing underwater. I think there is an element of looking for sanctuary, connectivity and stillness.
Recently I have been been painting Piranhas. I think the theme is the danger of being attacked and parts of you been taken and eaten by predators.
If you want to find out more about Skye Bompas’ work see the links below