Judy Tate has been drawn to soft pastels for most of her painting life. She finds the versatility, immediacy and vibrancy hard to beat. Most recently the recurring themes are ‘leaves and layers’ – often initiated as an underpainting with monoprinting. Over time colour has become increasingly pivotal to her work.
En plein air sketching and painting gives Judy a platform for larger pastel work in the studio. Sketchbook travelogues are an ongoing source of inspiration.
Studio based work (often inspired by flowers and seed heads) can be of a more abstract nature. For this work she takes a looser approach is taken, particularly in the underpaintings. Recently she has been experimenting with using mono printing onto various pastel surfaces as her under painting.