After studying Fine Art (hons) at Brighton school of art , Debra has spent her life working in the art world both as a conservator of oil paintings and as an artist in her own right.
She says “ Although I am interested from my years as a painter of figurative paintings and my years as a restorer of historical portraits, in capturing a likeness, I am not concerned in pushing that so far to the point where mark making and paint surface is lost”
Her work lies between the imagery of the real world and that of the imagined world of art and it’s history.
“I enjoy revealing a ‘sense’ of a portrait, suggesting and hinting at the history behind the image. I have always been intrigued by historical paintings, of surface layers and of the passing of time revealed in that surface.
In my latest work I have introduced hand written texts , fragments of ancient or renaissance poetry. Their meaning is again suggested rather than clearly stated , they create a narrative link to the history of the painted image”
Debra has also been working with sterling silver and gold to create jewellery and also hand made frames for her miniature paintings, her interest in these metals has been reflected in her introducing 24ct gold and sterling silver leaf to her latest paintings. These bring not only an abstract element to the paintings , but also a link to her interest in medieval paintings and icons.
