Lot 80 - Lizzie Coles - Kieran

Watercolour and pencil on paper
2025
A6 (10x15cm)
Original Artwork
Signed on Verso
Curated by Women in Art

About
I’m a visual person, all about shapes and symmetry, expressing this through my love of interior design, fashion and typography. I notice how things fit together and line up, I get easily distracted by how a curve leans into a surface or how the weight of chunky lettering helps a delicate photograph on a vintage poster. I’m impressed by figurative art that has personality as well as graphic, bold, abstract artwork. I try hard to combine at least a few of these elements in my art.

My background is a little more eclectic than I’d planned. All I ever wanted to do was draw people, but I didn’t really understand what a career doing that looked like. I was removed from Fine Art when it was obvious that I am colourblind, so I switched to Animation, because I’d seen an old film of Disney artists drawing Cinderella sat in a circle around a dancing actress. I hated the Animation degree, their obsession with concept over drawing quality didn’t inspire or encourage me.

I then worked in advertising as a business director supporting big brands such as John Lewis, Barclays, Vittel, Ryvita and L’Oréal. Whilst I loved the glamour of clicking across Soho with my Gwyneth Paltrow cropped hair and skyhigh heels, I dropped it all when I got impossibly pregnant (I’d been told after too many operations that it wouldn’t be an option)

So, the next chapter began when my husband, (together since we were 16) our new 1 year old and a massive bump, soon to become kid number 2 all emigrated to Paris. I adore Paris and thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with our kids and made friends for life. When the kids went to school, I was lucky enough to draw at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, indulging in 8 hours a week of life drawing for 5 years. This was an absolute joy and such a privilege to be in surroundings established over a 100 years ago, once inhabited by the best French Impressionist painters.

My French isn’t as good as it could be, I could chat to a 10-year-old about peanut flavoured crisps but it became apparent that my knowledge of chemistry or history in French was a bit lax. With a heavy heart, we returned to the UK to support the kids through their education - don’t ever mention Brexit to me.

It’s taken me a while to find my feet, hugely sidetracked with breast cancer and a year of chemo and radiotherapy (now fully in remission, thankfully), I’ve been a full-time artist for 3 years now and intend to stick at this for a while, hopefully.