I stumbled across Venetia’s work when visiting a friend’s house. They had the most stunning huge painting of flowers hanging in their stairwell, that immediately caught my eye, and it was by Venetia. I especially love her most recent series of paintings, depicting vases of naturally arranged flowers on patterned textiles, combining both her love of design, and still life. They are the result of a very productive time spent in her studio in Dorset, during lock down.
Venetia graduated from the Hatherley’s School of Fine Art with a diploma in Portraiture in 2014. Prior to this she studied traditional skills for a year at Charles Cecil Studios in Florence and subsequently attended the University College Falmouth where she studied drawing. Her paintings have been shown at a number of exhibitions in the UK, Holland and Zimbabwe since graduating and she appeared as a contestant on the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the year 2015 program. Painting landscapes in Zimbabwe involved holding a solo show in Harare, which featured her 'Balancing Rock' series in 2016.
‘’Having in the past painted in a more formal manner, I have intentionally developed over time a more contemporary approach using some of the traditional disciplines. I enjoy experimenting my style through the medium of the natural world. My work is inspired by my love of dramatic beauty. My paintings are bold both in the use of colour and handling of paint. I love exploring the effects of texture, colour and pattern on my subject. Seeking atmosphere, I work in varying degrees of abstraction. My process involves applying layers of colour and texture to create a fearless statement, 'celebrating' nature with a 'celebration' of colour. I love the frenzy and excitement that comes from a large, mixed palette of colour.’’