Please introduce yourself. Prior to working as a full-time artist, you were a producer on craft shows as; Art Attack and Mister Maker. What was your journey to becoming a producer? When did you decide to become a full-time painter?

Hello! I’m Louise Rieger and I’m an oil painter living in Kent, UK. I grew up in a working-class family in Chatham and as far back as I can remember I said that I was going to be an artist.

I went to Rochester Art College straight from school and then onto KIAD Maidstone where I got a degree in Illustration. I graduated in the early 90’s. Leaving education was a shock to the system as the realisation hit that I had no idea how to actually be an artist in the real world.

I had to move back home and took jobs that I mostly hated until eventually a friend, who worked at Maidstone Television Studios, gave me the heads up that they were looking for runners on a well-established children’s art show called Art Attack and happily I got the job.

*Don’t Put Your Mouth In Water Until Your Brain Is*

I started at the bottom – helping with prop-making for items on the show – but doing the most basic of tasks such as papier-mache balloons or cutting out card shapes. It was just plain luck that, every time I thought I needed to move on, someone above me left and I was able to fill their shoes. I worked my way up the ranks over the following decade until ultimately, I was producing the show for the UK as well as several international versions of the show for Disney. It was an amazingly fun job to have, a real joy going to work every day! Art Attack was eventually decommissioned at the same time as I had my son, and this felt like a very natural end to my time in television. Although I took short contracts for item research on Mister Maker (another children’s art and craft show), it was time for a change.

I had always kept up my art practice through the years and had commissioned work from time to time. But I found a new focus during lockdown and fell in love with oils in particular. I know I’m not alone when I say that lockdown forced me into a time of self-reflection, and it was then that I decided to concentrate on painting full time.

*This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us*

Your figurative work is influenced by polaroid pictures from the 70’s and 80’s. What compels you to paint from these photographs? How do you capture nostalgia?

My childhood memories of growing up on a council estate in the 70’s and 80’s have undoubtedly had an impact on the work I’m creating right now. My paintings are totally informed by my background and often I use old photos from that time as direct reference. They’re not always my family snaps though, sometimes the photos are found. I choose images that tell strangely familiar stories, and they can be of anyone, as the viewer will always see them through their own lense. The work asks us to focus on the truth of the memories and what they represent. These images from the past evoke complex emotions – nostalgic certainly, but nostalgia is not the only thing I’m aiming for. It’s about a feeling of absence, a fond longing for something that is missing, as well as bitter-sweet remembering. The thing that I would like the viewer to take away from my work is the opportunity to share in the feeling of warmth and familiarity. For them to connect to their own past experience by observing a version of mine. To indulge in the happiness of a past that possibly never even existed and to try and make sense of that past to bring meaning to the present.

Why are you interested in the tension between the natural and the built environment? How do you convey this in your work?

I’m inspired by places local to where I grew up and still live - a typical suburban town. It’s a place where town meets countryside not only physically but in the character of the people. I’m drawn to locations that demonstrate this crossover. It could be a graffiti covered subway carving through a beautiful hillside, or a brutalist bridge towering over a pretty towpath on the river. It makes for an interesting contrast and shows the constant tussle between nature, progress and where that line gets drawn – a line that is constantly quarrelled about. I want to draw attention to these in between places that are often ignored.

Describe your creative process from start to finish of your most recent painting. What initially inspired the composition?

I have just finished taking part in Southeast Open Studios where I showed work alongside five other artists in a gallery. As a way of bringing some interest and visitors into the gallery, we took it in turns to demonstrate how we work. For me that meant bringing an easel and painting. It also meant having to leave it behind at the end of the day, work on something else at home and pick it up again a few days later. All of this was completely at odds with how I usually do things. I tend to work on one painting at a time, day after day until it’s complete.

However, despite stopping and starting, the process of the painting began by sketching onto the canvas. I then did a very loose underpainting using raw umber before committing to colour.

I used a Polaroid of a 1971 family party as reference, there have been four others, and this was the final one. I had the real photo with me but also had a photo of it on my iPad so that I could zoom in to details. I let the old photo dictate the composition. I try not to ‘fix’ anything. If it’s out of focus, faded or out of frame, I think it adds to the charm.

Thinking about your portraits, how do you achieve a likeness? Which facial feature do you enjoy painting the most? Which feature do you find most challenging?

It’s always easier to get a likeness if I can meet the person I’m painting and make sketches from life. Even if I don’t get to draw them from life, I can see how they hold themselves and what their natural facial expressions are. It’s good to chat and find out more about a person. Once they’re relaxed, I can take some photos of my own to work from back in the studio.

If I’m unable to meet the person I’m painting and given a photo as reference, it is trickier but not impossible. I can ask if there are any other photos for me see, to help me get a more rounded impression, and I’ll rely on the grid method to get the likeness.

My favourite and most challenging features to paint differ from person to person. Some people have really expressive eyes or hands, or a difficult beard and you know that whatever their thing is, if you it nail it, then you’re winning.

Your paintings begin with pen and watercolour sketches. What is your last entry to your sketchbook?

It’s been some time since my last entry as that is how I tend to start my landscapes and I haven’t painted one for a while. I’ll do little sketches to plan compositions. The last sketches in my book were prep for a commissioned painting of the clients’ house and grounds. I painted several pen and watercolours for him to choose from before committing to oils.

If you could spend any day with an artist; dead or alive, who would it be and why?

I’d spend the day with Greyson Perry making pots, chatting about life. You know you’d have a laugh. There are other artists through history who’s work I love but I wouldn’t want to hang out with them.

What has been your greatest achievement so far as an artist? What are your future aspirations?

My biggest achievement is having people connecting to my work and liking it enough to buy it.

I’ve been lucky enough to be selected to be in some fabulous group exhibitions in some fantastic locations – the ING Discerning Eye in Mall Galleries and Wells Cathedral are high points. Group exhibitions are great, but I would love a solo show.

There is always an ongoing focus on becoming a better painter, learning something new and adapting with every artwork. I aspire to be in a position where I’m selling enough work to be able to carry on painting while living a comfortable life.

Why do you think art is important in society?

I think art holds up a mirror to our world and our emotions. It provides a focal point which allows a moment to stop and think, feel and connect to each other. Creating is part of the human condition – we can’t help ourselves.

Louise Reiger

ARTIST INTERVIEW: LOUISE RIEGER