Louisa CRISPIN
1964
Biography
Louisa Crispin is an artist who works almost entirely in monochrome, producing intricate and delicate studies from nature – of plants, insects and birds – drawn with very sharp pencils and graphite powder on Bristol board. As she noted in an online interview, published in 2015, ‘I’ve always been drawn to shadows, fretwork, black and white photographs, etchings and graphite drawings so it has been lovely to be able to produce my own. I live in the “Garden of England” and enjoy my surroundings, it seems only natural to work with nature. A chance encounter brought a small twig with tiny crab apples. I’m captivated by the way Lichen grows and enjoy searching for just the right stick, studying the detail before capturing it on beautiful smooth Strathmore Bristol Board using ultra sharp Staedtler pencils...I get totally lost in my own little world when I’m drawing, Radio 4 wittering in the background of my beautiful light and airy studio at the top of my garden.’
A winner of the PURE Arts Drawing Prize in 2013, Louisa Crispin has continued to win prizes in open exhibitions. She is a member of the United Society of Artists, Free Painters and Sculptors and the Society of Graphic Fine Art, as well as a Fellow of the Society of Botanical Artists. She was also a partner in the Artichoke Gallery in Ticehurst, Sussex, until its closure in 2019.
