Tessa
Kennedy is a professional watercolour artist
working in Cumbria. Born and brought up in East Africa, she returned to
England and studied science at university. Moving to Cumbria twenty years
ago, and working as a market gardener, she turned from growing her unusual
blooms to painting them.
Risking
the difficult style of blending wet into wet layers on hot press paper,
she produces vibrant, expressive results that have made her a successful
and collectable artist. She uses the technique to express fleeting effects
of mountain lighting and the glow of flowers.
With
three children at school, she had time to follow her strong instinct to
paint, and by 1996 had become a full-time watercolour artist. She also
began rock climbing then, which, together with walking on the fells, inspires
her mountain painting.
With
two other artists, she ran the Mountain Painters' Galley in Patterdale,
which became Sharp Edge Gallery.
She
currently holds art classes, and her work can also be found in other galleries
and exhibitions.
