Artist statement

Ruth Hussey is an artist and yoga teacher based in Dublin.

Her inspiration comes from the flowers she always has in the house, the flora and fauna around her, and the botanic gardens she visits.

Her work is impressionistic and playful, allowing watercolour and ink to guide the direction of each painting. She may begin with a reference sketch or a simple idea, but the interplay of colour and form—and the way ink bleeds into pigment—often leads the image somewhere unexpected. Working wet-on-wet requires speed, so the results remain loose and immediate, whether the subject is a flower, a person or an animal.

The exuberance of the marks and the high-chroma palette are celebratory: bright, almost loud reminders of the wonder of the natural world.

Like the flowers and plants, the people who populate the work have characters of their own. They emerge from imagined scenes and associations, informed by a lifelong practice of life drawing. The focus and attention involved feel closely related to meditation.

A woman floating from a genie’s lamp or turning a cartwheel might express a mood, a memory or a physical experience.

As a yoga teacher, she spends a considerable amount of time upside down, which is useful for shifting perspective. The sensations and freedom of yoga are another source of inspiration. She often practises before approaching the blank page with a dripping brush, allowing the body and mind to become more open and responsive.

Letting go of attachment to an outcome is part of the practice—on and off the mat.

Some images begin with a thought, an idea or a visual prompt drawn from the constant stream of imagery arriving through our screens. Rather than overthinking it, she responds spontaneously and allows the work to evolve through its own process.

Artists including Françoise Pétrovitch, Marlene Dumas, Cy Twombly, Claudia Lowry, Emil Nolde and David Hockney are important influences. The growing interest in works on paper—seen at fairs such as Drawing Now in Paris and Art on Paper in Brussels—has also encouraged her to work with greater looseness and freedom.