About my art...
My focus is part anatomy and part psychology. As young children begin to engage the world around them, often with wide eyes and an open mouth, they can be absorbed by the simplest of details. As they take in the visual information of whatever has caught their eye, they can be blind to everything else around them. They appear in a state of wonder, even lost in the world of their own imagination.

Few images hold me like the expressions of young children. Captured before they have learned how to ‘pose’ for the camera, young children are striking for their innocence, their look of awe, intense curiosity and play. To many eyes, their expressions are more than beautiful. To me, in a tumultuous time in our world, they are refreshing, grounding and can sharply remind us of what is important.

About the process...
I find watercolour a uniquely refreshing medium in which to work. I can control where the watercolour goes and I cannot. Preserving accidents, including mistakes, incorporating errant marks – this is what watercolor allows me. I find it permissive, inclusive and even an accepting medium. To me, watercolour makes my figurative artwork of children seemingly fluid and soft.

Using oil pastel on panel, I have drawn childrens' faces to capture a variety of childhood expressions. I have chosen to represent children from many different cultural backgrounds. I have used pastels, like purple, fuchsia and indigo to lift ethnicity from skin colour. I have also left visible the grain of the wood to keep the children ‘close to nature’, as I believe children to be.

Alison Baldock