Emma Foster
Emma Foster is a contemporary, figurative magical realist painter with threads of symbolic connotations intertwined within, to create enchanting and thought-provoking artworks. Her portrayal of the figure is often within nature or juxtaposed alongside internal and external forms.
Emma frequently brings flora and fauna to the space, with varying symbolism, uniting them with the human form and inviting the viewer to create a dialogue of meaning, or narrative to the piece.
There is often a sense of tension and sometimes darkness to her artwork, yet with an underlying sense of delicate and gentle beauty.
Emma was strongly influenced by the Victorian movement, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, with their exploration and use of nature within their work and their love of beauty and symbolism.
In many of her artworks, Emma uses the ancient art of gilding to enrich her art and create another layer within the piece. She is also an enthusiastic practitioner of traditional methods of painting and the creation of art surfaces, following age old recipes.
Emma began painting six years ago, after the birth of her fourth child, which created a turning point in her career as a children’s book illustrator, which she had worked as for many years. This, in turn began a renewed exploration into her future and artistic self, which she continues to enjoy to this date.
She was recently one of the winners of the London Open Invitational Award 2020, and the winner of the painting category of the Visual Arts Open, in 2021. Longlisted for The Royal Society of Portrait Painters 2020/2021, and for Women in Art Prize (formerly Hollybush Art Prize) 2022/2023, has exhibited her work in the Sinclair Gallery in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, in Castle Fine Arts, Mayfair, London, at Robert Lange Studios, Charleston USA, The Crypt Gallery in Euston, London, with Galeria Moderna in Cambridge, and in Downstairs at The Department Store in Brixton, London.
Q&A
What are your favorite and least favorite parts of professional art?
Ooh now, that’s an interesting question. I think possibly the best and worst part of being a professional artist are a little interconnected! The best is of course creating the actual painting, the way you can completely forget the outside world and any worries can be honed and expressed through your work, for me it’s a form of meditation.
The flip side of this coin is that I enjoy that part too much, and being an artist has nurtured the introvert side of my personality a little too much! I rather fear the exhibition openings and the like, they fill me with anxiety!
Do you have a network of other artists, and how do they support you?
Of course, like most artists in this age of social media, I have a wonderful support network through Instagram, honestly, without them I would have stopped painting, long, long ago! To watch other artists grow and develop their styles, whilst you do also, is a beautiful thing. To get words of support is vital to my personal, artistic development and to be able to continue in this rather unusual, time and passion consuming (and mostly not financially rewarding) path. Being a member of ArtCan has also been a massive help in opening up networks for me to grow and learn from other artists and their experiences.
What factors influence the price of your work?
I suppose one of the major factors, at least in the very early days of creation, once a piece has just been completed, is time, how long a painting has taken to complete. The fact that most of my work takes at least 6 weeks to complete, does create a rather high price bracket, although, once I have moved away from the piece, and created some newer works, I can look at the piece with different eyes, as far as pricing goes. I will then consider how successful I think the painting is, now it’s a little easier to objectify, so this, along with size and of course there is still the memory of how many hours of love and energy I put into the work, will all be factors when putting a price on a piece.
How do you manage a work-life balance as an artist?
This is a difficult one, most likely for all of us as artists and creators! It is oh, so easy to sit behind that easel until your back aches and the day has become night. Also, it can be just easy to see everything else as being of more immediate importance, as I am the main ‘keeper of the house and all that goes on in it’, being the mother of four. So, I must try to have quite a logical, or perhaps, a sensible mindset and have a personal check to make sure all of the necessary parts of my life, including exercise are all ticked, at least a little! It is often quite a juggle!
Describe your ideal working environment.
My ideal environment is a nice empty house, knowing the older children are at work and happy in their own career paths, and my youngest at school. To be able to sit and completely immerse myself in the artwork, with my favourite music or playlist on, or often an audible book in the background, that is bliss, at least for a while, until the house gradually fills up, and life gets crazy again!
How has your education helped you in your career?
When I studied art in the early 90’s the way to teach art students was basically, to let them ‘find their own way’ - whether this is still the way things are taught, I have no idea. But, I suppose, this is a large factor in how I have self-nurtured my artistic expression and how I produce my art. This and the wonderful world of ‘how to’ googling, without which I would have never been able to dabble in the world of gilding, which is still something of an education!
I actually studied Theatre Design as my degree course, after changing from a Fine Art degree, and I do think this has had a major factor in the theatricality of my paintings, especially in some of the pieces like ‘The Beginning’ and ‘The Empress’ where the composition is almost that of a stage setting. It is also where I learnt to pattern cut and sew clothes, which is how I made the outfits on the models in the pieces (who in these instances, are two of my daughters, Amelie and Fleur).
What are your most valued skills as an Artist?
Most definitely patience! Working initially with a monochrome underpainting, in a grisaille like technique, which is then glazed with subsequent (often four or five) thin layers of oil paint, along with the often painstaking, time-consuming creation of the gilded parts of my work, patience really does have to be a virtue!
Had the press or media ever mentioned your artwork?
Yes, a few times. I could tell quite a funny story of when I was still at school and, because I had an exhibition of my work and was in the local paper, and that this then led to me receiving an air mail letter from someone in the gulf war… but I won’t, then again, I just did.
Ok, on a more serious note, the one I am most proud of is a piece that discussed my painting ‘The Beginning’ in the American Art Collector in October 2022, when the painting was in an exhibition called ‘The Birds and The Bees’ at The Robert Lange Studios. This was one of my proudest artistic moments!
Tell me about a time you received negative comments or harsh criticism. How did you handle it?
I think artists are expected to be very hot-headed with criticism and defend their art to the end! Now this is my problem I do believe, not being so defensive! Maybe this is because I had worked as an illustrator for almost a decade before I started to paint again. In this career there are many intellects and many visions putting influence on the way in which you work. It is also one of the main reasons I fell out of love with the work.
So, It has been one of my, not necessarily, new year, resolutions, to dig my heels in and stick to my guns, knowing that I’m on the right path, and to trust in my artwork and where I personally want to take it.
Describe a piece of art you are most proud of. Why?
There are a few of my paintings that are my favourite ‘babies’, it is, of course a little like choosing a favourite child. However, ‘The Empress’ was a piece that was started in a time when I had just found out that my dad had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. I managed to finish the piece a little after he had passed. I still feel it expresses the pain that this experience forces a person to endure and to the strength that needs to be summoned.
