Avril Lyons |
Avril Lyons was born in Northern Ireland and studied Fine Art at Belfast College of Art and Design. She followed a career in Professional Photography and Community Arts in Belfast before moving to Sheffield in the 1990’s. There she began her journey to becoming a full-time painter.
‘Working mainly with acrylics, I am a painter of semi-abstract land and seascapes. I draw inspiration almost entirely from the natural world. Not always topographical, my work stems from certain places seen, often glimpsed and then remembered.
The starting point often comes from distant vistas, where land meets sea, certain qualities of light and atmosphere, the bleak darkness of moor and marshland, large skies and flat expanses and the pull of simple lines that take the eye through to the horizon and beyond.
Other triggers for painting come from music, poetry and prose and, whilst seeking to depict the ‘tangible’, I also try to surrender to more intuitive, spontaneous and gestural ways of working.
The sources f my work have included the Peak District, Norfolk, Northumberland and Cornwall. However, the places that resonate with me most carry strong reminders of my roots in Ireland.’