Trudie Shannon

I am a local born artist and poet.

I wrote my first poem aged nine and painted my first ‘proper’ painting for myself aged 18. People often refer to my vivid imagination but I have to persuade them that in fact the seeds of my images are not sown in my imagination at all! They emanate from feelings. Without these feelings I am not capable of painting or writing.

I have always used watercolour. I draw in pencil first, commencing, often with a curved line, on the paper, from that point the drawing evolves. When I am ready topaint I do not plan my colours but again use feeling to find my way into my palette.

All of the images in the exhibition were painted during the two lockdowns we have recently experienced. In some you will find reference to this. The words are lifted from poems relating in some part to some of the paintings.

I have a strong belief in the connectivity between artistic disciplines. To that end my brother Nick Windsor and his son Felix have created and contributed the ambient soundtrack to the exhibition, their response to images and words. The Arts belong to everyone.