Emma Jamison - Shafts of Light

E M M A  J A M I S O N

​Emma Jamison's landscape paintings are inspired by the ancient woodlands and rugged coastlines of Britain. She uses oil and acrylic, on canvas or board.

"I attempt to capture the essence of my surroundings, whether it be the hills and ancient forests of the South Downs National Park where I grew up, worked, and still live, or the battered coastlines of North Devon and South West Wales."

Jamison lives and paints at the foot of the South Downs, within a mile of the studio of 20th Century artist Ivon Hitchens, whose work has been one of her influences. 

She has an intimate knowledge of the woodland of the area, not least in her case as a result of having been employed as a coppicer. Talking at that time she said "When coppicing I prepare fires to burn the brash and drag 6 to 9 ft logs into piles. It is back-breaking work but being in the woods I develop a deep relationship with the place. I spend a good amount of time on my own splitting and peeling 100 logs a day but by just being there I become familiar with the animals that live there, the woodpecker who makes a hammering noise in the same birch tree or the flock of geese who fly over ever so often, or the same pair of red kites who call above the woodland canopy. Noticing the little things, becoming aware of the details of place, takes a certain hold in my painting."

​Jamison also spent time living and painting in a shepherd's hut that she built herself, on the top of the South Downs.