England 1972 - 1993

In 1972, I left America and emigrated to England where I worked with the philosopher J.G. Bennett for three years until his death. I had previously studied painting with the eminent artist Paul Chidlaw in his Mt. Adams' studio in Cincinnati. In England, after my son was born, I returned to college to study painting. I worked in the Life Room while searching for a more personal subject matter that would combine my love of colour and art history. After receiving my BA and MA, I became a senior lecturer in English art colleges which allowed me to travel each year in Italy to see early Renaissance frescoes and move to a larger house where I replaced the lawn with profusely flowering herbaceous borders. My garden soon provided abundant inspiration for paintings. Wanting to create a transcendental space evocative of being in nature, I laid canvases flat on the floor of my attic studio and used turpentine-thinned oil pigments. Because of the oppressive fumes, I experimented with thin washes of watered-down acrylic pigments, but eventually returned to oil paints for their vibrancy of colour and sensuousness.

© Photographs and text copyright Dr. Victoria King 2023.

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