Nestled deep in the Dorset countryside, I drive through rolling hills of impossibly bright spring green to visit oil painter Holly Brown. Holly has created a lovely edit of still life studies of lemons, pieces that instantly bring a Mediterranean warmth and softness to your walls.
Holly is an old friend from my early prep school days, and it was so nice to reconnect after many moons had passed. After welcoming me into her home and studio, and after a long catch up, we get cracking on the interview in her kitchen. The beautiful collection of ten lemons neatly across the wall behind her as she speaks. Each piece unique and carrying its own charm.
We discuss passion, talent and skill, and how interconnected they all are, with passion sitting firmly at the centre of it all. Holly tells me that art has always been the way she expresses and communicates herself best in the world. While academia may not have been her thing at school, observation and capturing the way light falls onto an object comes completely naturally to her. And more than that, she has a deep need to capture it.
Painting, she explains, is a form of meditation. A medicine, even. We laugh as she goes as far as to say that this desire to create is an innate trait in any true artist, in fact, more of an obsession. She describes the meditative rhythm of painting and the urge to begin a new work almost immediately after finishing the last. A true lemon addict, it seems. But she continues, saying it is only through this repeated process that skill is crafted and talent truly defined.
She talks me through her process, the form, the colour, the fast moving gestures used to capture an exact moment in time. There is excitement in this immediacy. Energy.
Her home and studio breathe craft and creativity, with paintbrushes scattered across windowsills and works in progress tucked into every corner. Not only is she a talented artist, but I also discover she is an excellent cook. Over a delicious lunch of homemade soup and frash bread, she tells me about her passion for fermenting and making homemade kraut. Spending time in her world makes me reflect on the speed at which I move through London life, and how there is so much to be gained by the slower life, more rooted in observation, nature and the simple ritual of cooking.
Please do take a moment to explore Holly’s beautiful collection of ten still life lemon paintings, now available online.
