The Artist Who
Bends Local Reality
by Ildiko Scurr
endy Brown was born in London and brought up to
appreciate nature and the world around her. As a
child she started painting as soon as she could hold
a paint brush. By her early 20s she was stuck in a
series of uninspiring, boring 9-5 jobs. Then in her
late 20s she moved down to Dorset with her mum
and dad.
She got extremely ill in 2002 with a bad dose of
flu. She felt so bad she thought she was dying. It left her feeling
exhausted and vulnerable. Shortly afterwards her doctor told her she
had M.E. and that she would not be able to do a regular job again;
a devastating diagnosis. So suddenly, she had to restructure her life
and she turned back to her painting. Since then, she has become
known and loved as a resident artist in Dorset for her playful and
colourful imagery of local places and you can wander into a shop
and see her work in the display cabinets.
How did your unique painting style develop?
‘I have always been influenced by the Art Nouveau movement where
things are organic and they grow. I loved the illustrations of Arthur
Rackham, where trees have a life of their own and anything that is not
alive, becomes alive. My work just evolved in a bendy way. Even
some of my lamp posts are virtually bending back on themselves. This
bendy, unreal world is immense fun to do. Crossing the boundary
between what is real and what is not. My first paintings were of
Lymington which is old and quirky and the houses grew out of the
ground and looked down on the people. I did some prints and they
sold like hot cakes. I started doing more and more images of the local
area.
‘Everything that has ever been made has been taken from nature in
the first place. Creativity is tapping into everything around us, the
rhythms of life and the seasons and using that to enhance our own
lives.’
What is the ethos behind your paintings?
My ethos is that you are never quite alone, houses and everything
around you have history and peoples’ life stories are there taking part
in our lives. Older houses have a real character and you can give
them a bit of personality. I noticed that when I see someone standing
outside a shop looking at my work, they laugh. That is the point of my
work, that people smile because they can all see Aunty so-and-so in
it, or the dog down the street. It makes people engage with their
surroundings. People who come on holiday can take back a little
piece of their visit and locals can have a quirky image of where they
live.