Today, we’re speaking with Janet Massey, an artist whose mesmerising contemporary abstract works capture emotion, memory, and the beauty of her surroundings. Trained at Central St Martin’s in London, Janet draws on decades of international experience in design and interiors, translating her sketches and watercolours created en plein air into large, vibrant oil paintings. Her bold use of colour and fluid brushwork brings the same movement and translucence of her watercolour pieces to canvas.
Q: What tends to spark a new piece?
JM: My landscapes and seascapes are driven by physically visiting a space and feeling the emotion, the beauty, smelling the air, and feeling the wind. My abstract works can be a further generation of those paintings, if you like, with a piece of that experience taken and looked at and drawn on. It can also be a physical emotional experience that I've had. It could just be that you've had a week of rain and you walk into a sunny day, and I want to express that feeling on the canvas that shows the joy of that moment. It can be anger, it can be upset, but fortunately, it's mostly beautiful things.
Janet Massey, Candescent Creature
Q: Do you have any recurring themes in your abstract works?
JM: I am definitely inspired by the physical environment that surrounds me. The sun hitting my face as I’m walking through the trees, and the joy that brings into my life; I just want to express it. I can also have an experience with a stranger or a friend that brings joy into my life; I hear something incredible that’s made them happy, and then it reflects into me, and I just need to express that somehow on a canvas. Often I don’t think too much and just go into the studio; the colours emerge from feeling that emotion. Sometimes the result surprises me, but it’s always a great feeling..
Janet Massey, Burnished Horizon
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
JM: I'm working on some pieces for a Michelin star restaurant called Source which is in the Gilpin Hotel in Windermere. I have been commissioned by executive chef Ollie Bridgewater. He is an extremely talented chef, and the artistry that he brings to his work is just amazing. I was lucky enough to experience a night at Source and enjoy Ollie’s fantastic cuisine. He gave me free rein to express on canvas how I felt about his restaurant, and I have produced four very colourful, flowing artworks that will hopefully add another nuance to the space and represent all the beautiful textures and flavours he brings to his dishes.
Janet Massey, Overspilling the Blue
Q: How do you know when a piece is finished?
JM: That's a really interesting question and one I get asked a lot, and it's not a straightforward answer. I work in the studio at the end of my garden and when I feel a painting is starting to form the way I want, I bring it into my kitchen. Then I sit and I look while I'm cooking, preparing the evening meal, or just relaxing and I look at it in different lights and I think, "Does it need more light? Does it need more contrast?" I sleep on it. It goes back to the studio. I work on it a bit more. And this process can go on for days, weeks; it just depends on the piece. Sometimes it's more immediate and sometimes there's an "urking feeling" and I just have to let whatever it is work out what needs to happen. And finally I'll think, "It needed that," go back and do it and then I let it rest.
If you don't let it rest, you can overwork it, and then you've gone too far the other way.So there's a fine balance deciding when a piece is finished. And hopefully, I've picked the right moment.
Q: How do you navigate creative blocks or periods of silence?
JM: You can't keep coming up with ideas and new scenes without actually getting out into the world, experiencing life and looking at nature and the beautiful world that surrounds us. So, I often find that walking away from the studio, going for a walk by the river, seeing an amazing film, or visiting a gallery helps inspire me to paint something else. Earlier this year, I spent a month in Italy, and the mountains and the beautiful sea near Siena brought a fresh look back into the studio. You have to keep “filling the well,” otherwise your work can stagnate.
Periods of silence or creative blocks can be very constructive. They force you to step away, evaluate your work, and consider how to move forward. Often, when I return to the canvas, my perspective has shifted due to new experiences, and that informs the next stage of the painting. That process is important for every artist.
Visit the gallery to view Janet's latest collection of emotive abstract paintings.
