Linda Ravenscroft

"The Fairy Muse"

Coated fabric with wooden ends.

Size: 45cm x 51cm

About Linda Ravenscroft

I was born in 1963, A very typical Pisces, always preferring to live in a dream world, a world which I have painted ever since I can remember, and one which as a child I could retreat to whenever things became tough.  I still pay regular visits to my dream world, though with a lot more of the real world thrown in…

It’s where I go to paint.

I live in the beautiful county of Cheshire, England (famous for its Cheshire Cat, of course) with my long suffering husband John, daughter Ivy and numerous pets.

My home is situated near a very small wood, which is a constant source of inspiration to me, I use many mediums for my paintings, though my favourite has to be watercolour, I adore the way that the paint blends creating almost transparent washes, and yet the colours can also become quite vivid. 

I dont think I will venture down the way of digital painting - I would miss the unpredicability of my watercolours,  I also feel that digital images are far too perfect in their appearance, almost false in some way, like digitally airbrushing glamour models - that sort of thing - but that's my personal opinion, though I can see the advantages and the wonderful effects that can be achieved with digital medium, so I guess I should never say never

(just in case - lol).

It's also nice to have that special one off completed piece of work - that original painting - the one everyone wants!!

My inspiration comes from many sources. I rely mostly on my dreams and inner feelings as I have done since I was a child, along with my love of nature, instilled within me from an early age by my parents, and their wonderful tales of myths and legends which they would share with me at bedtime.

Now as an adult with more experience of the world, I am influenced by artists from the past, such as Alphonse Mucha and William Morris, and the era in which they lived and worked, I also have a fascination for the supernatural and unexplained, all of these elements help to fire my imagination and enable me to create my images.

The idea of the Faerie Folk or earth spirits, call them what you will, dates back as far as time itself, to me they represent the natural world we live in and whether you believe in the fae or not, I feel that they have a place in our modern day society, even more now than they ever did in the past.

It's time to look at our beautiful world and take stock of our feelings and behaviour towards our fellow man, time to open our eyes to see what harm we are doing.

I find it easier to translate some of my feelings into my work, ironically, the sort of feelings that make you feel powerless to do anything about can be turned into the most enchanting images.  These are usually some of my larger more complicated paintings, each one containing my messages of hope, perhaps a gentle reminder to take care of the world and each other.

Most of my images are serine and benign, although we all have a darker more passionate side waiting to emerge..... “After all we are only human.”

I truly believe that we all have a little bit of Faerie magic within our hearts, helping us to make the right decisions within our everyday lives, we just have to look for it.

Shine Brightly and live your dreams.

Linda

Linda Ravenscrofts official website

http://www.lindaravenscroft.com/store/index.php