Jorgen Christiansen

The Southdown Country Park provides a rich source of material for my work especially the spectacular views and settings of the Arun Valley and no more so than that of the town of Arundel, described as one of the great town views of England.

Although the original West Sussex coastline has now vanished small pockets of the old coastal plain remain with open fields abutting the river floodplain down to the sand dunes on the coast. Further east West Wittering provides the backdrop to the entrance to Portsmouth and Southampton Waters. The vast sky and changing lighting conditions of the sea provide further inspiration for my work.

I enjoy working with the Gouache medium. It lends itself well to my graphic style of working with areas of flat, but vibrant colours. I work through a process of reduction to distill the essential qualities of my subject matter using a limited family of colours in different applications. I studied watercolour painting under Agnete Varming at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen where I qualified as an architect. My work has been shown in Denmark and France and I have been part of the Arundel Gallery Trail for many years.