About Tina Newlove

My latest work explores abstract figures in transition, moving from moment to moment, exploring relationships within themselves, their community and the environment.

My paintings and collages are made up of overlapping personal symbols and simplified figures jumbled up together in a love of colour. Urban and rural landscapes are pieced together quilt-like and gestural lines try to capture the insane speed of disjointed information received daily and how it relates personally and to my community and committments. To make sense of the many social and environmental concerns, locally and around the world, my themes relate to the intersections of work and family, alienation in modern society and the necessity of withdrawing into nature.  I’m interested in cyclical patterns, calendar days, and the layers of tradition and technology in daily life.

The paintings grow like a flow-chart connecting shapes in the form of thought clouds, repeating house shapes and plants actively growing. Some humans step lightly onto the canvas through foliage while others prominantly demand attention. Figures look over each others shoulders, they intermingle and overlap and nestle into each other or are simply alone with their thoughts.

The focal point can be under the horizon line, dead centre or half off the canvas, suggesting a continuing story. My paper and fabric collages play with pattern and juxtaposition of materials which inform my oil painting process. Layers of paint define and then defuse the themes, adding complicated relationships between repeating shapes and the overall composition. Bright details and counterpoints highlight the intricate balancing act intrinsic in life and painting.

The biodiversity of background moments of day-to-day life contribute to the steady hum of energy in the work and watercolour sketches after morning walks serve as research for backgrounds and compositions.