Please introduce yourself. What initially sparked your interest in becoming an artist? How did you turn your passion into a career?

My name is Lynda Bremner, I’m predominantly a landscape painter, based in County Wicklow in Ireland.

As a child growing up I was always encouraged to be creative. My Granddad was incredibly imaginative, my Mum like him and this influenced me hugely. We always had paper, and were encouraged to draw ideas. After school, I studied graphics in DLIADT, and was always a little envious of the fine art students. I’ve had my own graphic design business for over 20 years and yet always felt there was something more I wanted to explore. 6 years ago, I attended a weekend painting workshop in the Schoolhouse for Art in Enniskerry, Wickow. Having not painted before, I left with the biggest smile on my face. That was the start!

You’re fascinated by nature. Why are you so compelled to paint your surroundings?

Being immersed in nature has been part of my life since childhood, family walks, making nature tables and playing outside. I am drawn to places, returning to the familiar ones and searching out new places to explore, chasing light and spaces that have atmosphere and just that something that stops me in my tracks. Getting my feet wet, and at times driving my family mad stopping for photographs, returning home with my pockets full of bits and pieces, from acorns to sea glass and found insects. From the weathered atmosphere of a place, to the minute textured detail of a bird's feather. On a personal level I find it very grounding, and creatively I am continually drawn to and inspired by nature.

I paint in both watercolours and oils, and through my work I constantly seek new ways to capture the essence of a place, or a piece of found nature. Whether it’s through the mark making, the texture of paint, colours reflecting found materials, or a particular medium chosen to work onto, each piece evokes the mood and atmosphere of the subject.

I am fascinated by the stories that a painting can evoke, I try to explore the narrative of my subject matter and weave this into the overall piece, working on maps, found driftwood or old railway tickets. This ensures that no two pieces are ever the same, each one has a unique character.

What are the characteristics of an interesting scene to capture?

That can be very hard to explain! I find it’s more of an emotional connection, a feeling, whether from the familiarity of a place that brings you back, or the sudden draw of somewhere new. It can also be the weather on a particular day, how the light changes, the difference rain makes to colour, or the time of year. I realise I am very drawn to water, I sea swim and love watching how water travels within or through a place. Having said that, it’s not always a beautiful place that inspires, I’ve painted dirty railway stations, and derelict cottages, so I think it’s more about the connection I feel to a place rather than particular characteristics.

Thinking about the last piece you produced, what was your process from start to finish? What initially inspired you?

Recently, I’ve been painting on old Admiralty Charts. I’ve always loved old boats, the weathered textures and the narrative they have with their surroundings. I’ve been researching shipwrecks around the Irish coast. It’s important to me to find the right Admiralty Chart or map of where the boat now rests, and to try and incorporate it into the map with integrity, I see them nearly as portraits. That research, learning and planning is part of my process. I also try to allow the map to be present in the finished painting, I’m not just painting on it, I’m painting with it, if that makes sense.

How does your work reflect you as an individual? What would you like to transpire to the viewer?

I can be quite solitary, so I suppose my paintings reflect my personal view of a place. I enjoy photography, but for me, where that captures the physical characteristic of a particular place, I would hope I bring another layer of meaning to the viewer through my paintings. It might inspire curiosity to understand the narrative I’ve tapped in to, or it might evoke an emotional response to the sense of a place.

“You have to find that place that brings out the human in you, the soul in you, the love in you” R.M Drake

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see” Edward Hopper

Tell me about your ‘Return Journeys’ series. When did it start? Are the landscapes you paint linked to the destination of the journey?

I’ve always collected things, I get it from my Dad. He collected train tickets, some from over sixty years ago. As objects in your hand they are proof of having journeyed somewhere, mostly around Ireland, some of them with a bicycle, some with children, some even with a dog (accompanied by passenger). Some are marked as special journeys, some are single journeys others are returns.

To me they represent returning in my mind to places I’ve been to, these train tickets are return journeys, so familiar as memories of places; days at the beach, drives in the car and family hikes, layered with low skies, weathered texture and the feelings you get from being present in a place.

Each painting is made up of 3 old Railway Tickets and are chosen together to build a story of a Return Journey. They are all painted in oils. I first started painting these four years ago, and I see now how meaningful that timing was. The following year, when the pandemic started, initially I found it very hard to paint. I realised just how important being outside in places meant to my work. These paintings became a way to capture the memory of having been in a place.

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

That’s a hard one. My immediate thought would be Paul Henry, I would love to go back and just sit and watch him paint a sky over a landscape in the west of Ireland. His sense of colour is incredible. Those clouds.

If I was to pick a living artist, I think I would have to choose between Kurt Jackson for his spontaneous creative response to a landscape, or to watch Hester Berry take in place, she has an incredible ability to capture a landscape in a very personal way.

What has been your greatest achievement in your career?

Hmm, I have things I might consider achievements in a very personal way, but I’m not sure how measureable they might be within a wider context. I’ve had two solo exhibitions, and have had paintings chosen for the RHA and the RUA, amongst others. However, there is no better feeling than when you are sent a photo of one of your paintings in someone’s home. When someone chooses to buy a piece of your work, it’s incredibly humbling. As an artist, I think there is always a challenge, to push yourself, to find new inspiration, to make something different to anything you’ve ever done before, or to explore a narrative as far as you can until you feel it’s finished.

Why do you think art is important in society?

Art is incredible, it’s a language without the need for words. It can be felt without needing to be described or explained, and through that can appeal to anyone. I feel there is a perception that art can be something elite, only in galleries, and only for those who can afford it or understand it. I think some art can be overthought and overcomplicated, however, that’s not to say art should be simple, but more that it should be accessible and allow personal interpretation. For me, art is something that should be everyday, in small things, and big things. It’s an emotional connection, and I feel that’s why it’s important, it should be open to allow anyone to feel it (or not) in their own personal way.

Lynda Bremner

ARTIST INTERVIEW: LYNDA BREMNER