Footprint Painting

Louise Marie Barnwell Though she was born in 1983 in Calais, France, she spent her childhood and adolescence in her family home in a small village not far from there. From an early age she began drawing and painting and very quickly developed a love for everything related to Art. She was influenced at an early age by the water colour artwork painted by her great grandmother and also her grandfather, the latter being very gifted in artistic and industrial drawing. The first true artwork that she accomplished was inspired by the painting ‘The Starry Night’ by Vincent Van Gogh which she reproduced on a much larger scale on the wall of her bedroom! In high school, her drawings were remarked upon by her Art teacher and classmates. Her parents encouraged her to embrace the realm of Art because of her gift and it is in this way that she began to express herself through her drawings and paintings. Unfortunately, at the age of 14, she sunk into depression. Her art was influenced by this and it also helped her to slowly to overcome this illness. Looking through her work at the time one can discern two periods: a dark period which bears testimony to her internal turmoil and a lighter period where her work became progressively more colourful and brighter reflecting her gradual success in combatting and overcoming her angst. In 2008, she learned computer graphics in France. In 2009-2010, she was initiated into sculpture and modelling by working with a group of artists. From 2012 onwards she continued to perfect her watercolour technique. From 2015 to 2017 she attended Fine Art courses in the Hauts de France. Then, from 2018 she pursued similar courses for two years at Morley College in London. Louise is mostly self-taught and also experiments with various techniques in other artistic fields. Partly West Indian by origin through her father Louise particularly favours the bright colours and hues that she saw in Trinidad and Tobago. She enjoys travelling a lot both in Europe and further afield foreign countries. She has been inspired by her various trips and the places she visited. She also likes to escape on the magic flying carpet of her dreams and imagination. Her art is not confined to any particular style. Following her mood her work can be abstract, figurative, realistic, or surrealist. She draws her inspiration from her favourite artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Jean -Michel Basquiat and Jackson Pollack.