Judy Hempstead (1939-2020) spent her childhood years living close to the sea near Dawlish on the South Devon coast. She studied art in Newton Abbot and then Goldsmiths College of Art in London. After graduation she taught for a number of years, first in London, then back in Devon. In 1998 she left her position as senior lecturer in Art and Design at Exeter College to become a full-time artist.

Living in Devon she found herself instinctively calling on childhood memories of living by the sea for inspiration in her painting. 'My work vacillates between semi-abstraction and a more literal approach but always my aim is to capture the ever changing moods of our West Country coastline with its sense of history and mystery.'

In her art works, Judy Hempstead continually experimented with new materials and techniques to create mixed media paintings and boxed assemblages. 'This reflects my absorption with surface texture and the effects of erosion, oxidisation, salt spray and other natural forces on both natural and man-made objects'.

When creating a new painting she started by texturing and sometimes collaging the surface. Next she dribbled inks, watercolours or diluted acrylic paints into the crevices of the hardened texture paste. Finally she applied thicker areas of acrylic paint. Mists, which rise from the sea, fascinated her in the way that they cling to cliff faces and accentuate the sweeping lines of the coastline and she sometimes used swathes of diluted white acrylic paint to capture their ephemeral nature. Judy Hempstead also added finds from beach-combing to her work and occasionally weaved passages of poetry into a painting both for visual interest and to convey a particular mood.

Inland from her childhood Devon home the great expanse of Dartmoor also provided inspiration for her art. 'I find the flowing contours of the moorland, occasionally broken by dramatic granite outcrops and the rolling mists and changeable weather a great source of inspiration. I also love the surface texture of the granite, lichen and plant life that can be found in these enclosed places.'

In addition to Red Rag Modern Art Gallery Judy Hempstead exhibited at other leading British Art Galleries. Each painting at Red Rag is sourced from the Judy Hempstead artist studio and like all Red Rag art and Modern art it can be shipped worldwide.

For more information or to buy British modern art from Judy Hempstead:

CALL RED RAG NOW on 01225 332223 or outside UK + 44 1225 332223

Modern Art: Judy Hempstead at Red Rag Gallery