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A
Message from Lydia
With
a father who was Principal of Rochdale College
of Art and L.S.Lowry as a close family friend
and frequent visitor to our home, I grew
up surrounded by Art. In fact, my parents owned
a significant collection of original Lowry artworks,
but that is a story for another time. Watch
this space!
Since
gaining my degree at Loughborough, I have exhibited
both in the U.K. and abroad. I have also featured
in numerous publications and reference books
and have been seen on commercial television.
My
initial subjects tended to be the sombre
streets and derelict mills of my native
Lancashire. However, since taking up scuba diving
I have found another huge source of creativity
and inspiration in the undersea world
of coral reefs. My love of the old, the derelict,
the slightly decayed, can also been seen in
some of my more recent works based on old French
farmhouses and country cottages. I suppose it
has also informed my recent choice of husband!
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I work with pencils, watercolour, pastels, paints, inks and dyes, as well as hand and machine embroidery techniques. I am also very interested in re-interpreting major art movements, such as Pointillism and Impressionism, in threads and fabric. |
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A sketch from life,
by Lydia's father Leo,
for a sculpture of L.S. Lowry
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Our Wedding 2010.
This fine man, my husband, has been helping me set up exhibitions for nearly two decades .
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Addendum
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You
can not have got this far into Lydia's web site
without learning the sad news of her death on
15th of August 2010. What this web site cannot
show however, is that not only was Lydia a talented
artist but was also a musician of some note
(Excuse the pun! Groan, groan!) .
She
was an accomplished flautist, played the piano
well and since her 50th birthday, when she wanted
an accordion as a birthday present, she had
been teaching herself the accordion and making
great progress towards imitating the French
accordion players that she so loved to hear
around Montmartre and on the Paris metro.
She was also a brave but almost utterly untalented cyclist - something she put down to living on a hill when she was young, with a mother who would not let her have a bike. It took Lydia quite some time to master the idea that it was easier, safer and considerably less painful to get off a bike when it had stopped! She was also the only person I have ever met who went down hills slower than they went up them. |
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being said, however many times she fell off she would
always dust herself down, wipe away the blood and get
straight back on again - so typical of the determination
that she showed in everything she ever did. Some of
the most enjoyable holidays we spent together over the
last few years have been those when we explored the
quiet lanes, by-ways and canal paths of the French countryside
- as well as numerous French hospitals and medical centres!.
Lydia taught herself the language (GCSE A*), loved to
use it, loved the country and the people and was never
happier than when she could 'people watch' in a small
country bar or a backstreet Paris bistro.
Lydia
did not live long enough but she lived life to the
full and has left both a huge hole and an even bigger
legacy.
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In a sky full of stars, some stars shine brighter !
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