Bristol-based artist Megan Sinfield uses sketches, photography and plenty of digital manipulation to create captivating depictions of some of Bristol's most unlikely locations. From St Pauls and Stokes Croft, to the Severn Crossing and the M4, the locations Megan chooses to portray will be well known to anyone who lives in our city. Read on for an insight into her working process and to view some of her amazing work.
The artist: 'I have lived in Bristol for almost eight years. I love it for its creative buzz and unique personality. I grew up in North Wales and Hackney, but Bristol feels like home now. It's a very positive place and you can find all life here if you know where to look, as well as some special quirks that I'm pretty sure you'd only find in this city.'
The subjects: 'When choosing a place to draw, I'm not really looking for natural beauty, as that's already appreciated by the world. Generally, I'm more interested in finding somewhere ugly, or ordinary, or overlooked and finding the beauty in it. The places I've drawn in Bristol are mostly inner city areas – Stokes Croft, St Pauls, Easton. I'm trying to capture ordinary places that people walk through everyday and show them in a different light.'
The method: 'My working method is something I call digital collage. I start with a drawing in my sketchbook that I scan into the computer, then I build up layers of colour with parts of photographs in my texture library. I am constantly taking photos of textures that look promising, like paint-stained walls, uneven concrete, graffiti or dirty glass. I also take photos of the place I'm drawing and, occasionally, add bits into the picture, which adds a confusing photographic quality to the work. Sometimes, I paint a section and scan that in, too. I play with the opacity between layers so it all blends and adds a slightly ethereal quality, where some parts become translucent. I'm attempting to create an atmosphere that evokes more than the physicality of the place and I feel that this method serves to obscure the workings to create something that is neither painting nor photograph, but somehow feels like both, simultaneously real and unreal, ordinary and strange.'
www.megansinfield.blogspot.co.uk
