KS4 Art and Design: Why I paint landscapes

Anna King:
My name is Anna King, and I'm a landscape painter. I'm really fascinated by wastelands and derelict buildings because of the wildness, the way that nature is kind of taking over, and the random elements of it, as well.

Strange objects there, like traffic cones and shopping trolleys, and things like that, and I like those sort of indicators that people have been there, but I never actually have any people in my paintings. So the viewer is then, you know, the person in the painting, and it's as if you're on your own, kind of exploring these places.

I remember going to see an exhibition of Alison Watt's paintings of white sheets with the shape where a figure's been, and that's the first time I'd seen big, contemporary paintings like that in a gallery. That was one of the exhibitions that really made me want to be an artist.

I also really like Joan Eardley's paintings. Really sort of expressive and wild landscapes. Comparing yourself to someone like that isn't always useful, because you're never going to be able to do what they did.

I love my job, I mean, I would never swap this for anything, because I get to come to work every day and I get to do what I want. And do something that makes me feel happy, and if you do get to do that for a job, then that's really, really good!