Annabel Wyatt

What made you want to become an artist? 

I suppose it was just something I have just always done since I was a child. Some people like dancing and become a dancer, some like building cars and become a mechanic, it’s just your natural path in life. My parents were always very encouraging although, not so much now that they consider me an adult.

What is your work commenting on, what discussions are you hoping to bring up through your work?

My work is usually based around a particular life crisis I am having, very selfish I know, but I do make expressionist art after all! I relate this to the feeling of society as a whole and extend this feeling to everyone through my work. I’m usually reading or researching something philosophic at the same time, which often will present itself within the meaning and direction of the piece.

Which philosophers are you most interested in and why?

My earlier works were based around my research into Nietzsche, although they were very dark and to be honest not very well received, although, he’ll always be one of my favorites. These days I’ve been more interested in psychology, Freud in particular, as I’m more often trying to understand people as opposed to rationalizing them.

What do you like about working with paint?

I use mostly oil paint, my old tutors were quite against acrylic or anything else and they were right. You just can’t get the same broad range of textures and colours as you do with oil. Although, often to save on cost I will make a thick under layer out of acrylic, then allow this to dry and continue on top with oil paints.

Do you envisage yourself always being a painter?

I think I do yes. Painting is my biggest passion. Whether I’m creating them or looking at them, I just don’t get the same feeling from anything else. I like the satisfaction of seeing a completed image in front of me, without having to mechanically explore it in the same way you would with a sculpture. I like the way you let only your eyes do all the work. Maybe I’m too stupid to enjoy anything else, we shall see.

Where do you best like to work?

I generally work best in a place where I can listen to music, that’s the one thing I really do need most. It allows me to have more fun and be free with the painting, and not take it too seriously or allow it to become contrived.

Who are your favourite artists and why?

My favourite artists are mainly the German expressionist painters. Max Beckmann in particular, although I do hold a place in my heart for Frank Auerbach. I recently saw his show and was suitably impressed although possibly under whelmed. I just feel an affinity with German expressionism unlike any other movement.

You seem to work predominantly in may I say, quite a garish colour palette, could you explain why you choose these colours for your paintings?

I often work around the idea of creating ugliness in my work. I translate a lot of my own emotion into anything I do and these emotions are not an attractive trait, so the paintings are always going to be a bit of an affliction on the viewer, kind of like self-harm, but in the nicest possible way! Often if I try to make a painting attractive it just runs way and becomes contrived again, something I’m always trying to work away from.

Which piece are you most proud of and why?

A piece I made during my university years called “Theory of Decadism” it was inspired by Nietzsche, I was reading at the time, and I based the imagery on Dante’s Inferno. I just feel that the painting really worked, I used the colors I like best and really emitted the emotions and time in my life at that present moment. I’d fallen out with a lot of people who lived by some ideas and morals I had grown to disagree with.

What do you like about being an artist and living in London?

I like the positivity around what you do. Being brought up in a working class environment, there is always a sense of “you can’t do” about everything creative or otherwise. London is just one of those places, for me, where the general consensus is more along the lines of “yes you can!”

To see more of the artists work please visit her website at, annabelwyattfineart.com.