Berne Vaughan

Berne Vaughan – Artist’s statement 2021

My most recent work has been a continuation of my exploration of cropping my digital images and zooming in to create snapshots in time, full of detail and of the moment. Each painting has come from photos that I have taken and is asmall insight into the way I view the world. I am interested in capturing emotion, stillness and realism in my paintings, making a larger scene more intimate. It allows the viewer to be nosy and peer into someone else’s personal space, without fear of being caught.

Text has also been a feature in this series of work, and I have enjoyed the word play that comes with cropping images of signage. Old seaside buildings, with their lights, signs and architecture have become a source of inspiration, with their kitsch, retro features and the feelings of nostalgia they elicit.

Light is important in my work and I combine it with cropping to create mood and drama, this is another reason that I have been drawn to the coast, where the light is strong. In my latest work, I have been creating a series of images of the same buildings but from different viewpoints. I like the challenge of making many images from different crops from the same source. It encourages the viewer to take time to notice the details that would often pass them by.

I have been working with gouache paint on paper, which brings a matt, graphic quality to the work. Painting with gouache allows me to speed up my painting and be more spontaneous in my process.