TAMARA WILLIAMS

I originally studied Graphic Design, graduating from Kingston Art College in 1986 - a million years ago! After a couple of years working at great London design agencies, I set up my own design company with an old friend. Over the next 25 years we grew the agency into a thriving design business, working with brands big and small all over the world. It was an exciting time to be involved in an industry on the cusp of huge technological change. Fortunately we placed great emphasis on being able to communicate ideas as sketches, which meant I was able to continue drawing. After selling the business I was able to revisit the printmaking and painting I so loved at art college; experimenting with different textures and mark-making by working directly onto plaster, wood and natural materials.

My design background informs and influences all of my work, from a love of composition and visual space, to the energy and freedom of abstract line work. 

Ideas are inspired by the natural world and start with drawing, using a variety of line weights, with the negative space as much a feature as the positive. The landscape around my studio near The Thames is an especially strong influence with the river bank and surrounding fields filled with their tangle of wild flowers and graphic shapes which I deconstruct into abstracted layers of texture represented in my latest work. The colours change through each season and are inspirational in so many ways.