LUCY CARIOU

My watercolour paintings focus on plants, emphasizing their resplendence, the ability to lift spirits, and constant state of change. Through the work I spotlight natural places to wander and sights of wonder, hoping to spark biophilia, and the innate affinity humans have with the natural world. It is interesting for me to walk the line between botanical illustration and landscape painting. Botanical illustration is the act of drawing every part of a plant, including their microscopic details upon an empty backdrop. I build on this, and complete an active scene, like a landscape, to create a whole world. My paintings are meant to invoke a sense of the Sublime, nudging viewers awareness of the natural world. I attended Concordia University (Montréal) and the Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts), graduating with distinction in 2019. In 2022 I had a solo exhibition, GLIMMER, at Bluerock Gallery. My work has exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 209th Annual Exhibition and Winners: Award Winning Artists 2020- 2022 (London, UK), and I was the recipient of the 2021 Leatherseller’s Prize for best artist under 30, from The Worshipful Company of Leathersellers’. My work has been long listed for the Jackson’s Painting Prize, and my paintings have been published in a best-selling guidebook – The Scenic Geology of Alberta and an alphabet garden book of prose.

Website: http://www.lccariou.com | Instagram: @lccariou