&Gallery is delighted to welcome back Joan Doerr for her second solo exhibition with the gallery. Joan, who was born in Glasgow, is an abstract painter who now works out of her home studio in Edinburgh’s West End.
“I work from my home studio/sanctuary in Edinburgh. I work intuitively, applying layer upon layer of acrylic paint to canvas, linen, or board until I feel the work is complete. I usually have many paintings on the go at any one time-a little production line. This reduces the risk of overworking a piece.”
Joan’s paintings are created using an instinctual process, consisting of painting, and drawing. She constructs her work in several layers, often applying and then removing paint to reach the desired finish. Joan’s multi-layered process is evident in the finished work, the details of her earlier layers visible just beneath the surface. Joan takes inspiration from variety of different sources, often encountered in the everyday.
“I am inspired by many things; old maps, faded shop signs and street signs from days of old; shadows, old buildings-including ones in the process of demolition. Also shapes, colours, textures. It can be something that I spot when I’m out and about or something I see on television or in a magazine. I just get a good feeling about it and want to record it in my sketchbook. Sometimes the thing I am most enthusiastic about will only appear in my work a few times yet something I am not sure about can become a firm favourite. There are so many artists whose work I admire; Cy Twombly, Prunella Clough, Richard Diebenkorn to name but a few.”
Joan has exhibited widely across Scotland and the UK, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
