Dina Southwell

Dina’s paintings are inspired by memories of places she loves, most notably East Anglia, Massachusetts, and Scotland. Ideas tend to come to her when she is doing something else like walking, swimming, or driving. Colour is often the initial trigger for an idea. If she has no materials to hand Dina will commit the key colour relationships and shapes to memory, sketching them as soon as she can on any piece of paper she can find.

Like Edvard Munch “I paint not what I see but what I saw”. She is interested in capturing her experience of a moment in time: the sense of space, light, movement, temperature, and above all colour. Back in her studio she works using sketches, pastel colour studies, and her large collection of old photos to re-create the intensity of the experience. Many of her more abstract images are based on traveling through landscape.

After a degree in History at Bristol University, and a stint in advertising, Dina decided to take up art full time in the mid-1980s. She studied at the Slade School of Art (BA hons) and spent a year on exchange at the University of New Mexico learning about American photography and painting. After graduating from the Slade she combined her art with leading cultural tours across Europe, and teaching art at Holland Park School. Six years ago she moved to a house overlooking the Stour estuary in North Essex. She currently paints and runs art classes from her studio at home.

Dina has exhibited regularly in London and East Anglia. Her work has been bought by major collectors.

Sailing on Nantucket
Aye Aye Captain	Shotley Point
Tiree	Blue Fishing
Nantucket Sound (II)	Down to the Stour
House on Tiree