Interview by Jimon

1-Where do you call home currently?  Cornwall, England.

2-How would you describe H. Dubrey?  An artist, a mother and a lover.  I have an instinct to hide, but I want to be seen!

3- How did you discover art?  As a child I was always drawing and my imagination was very active. I was taken to art galleries, and my father was an architect who painted as well, which was a formative inspiration.

4- How did you acquire your style?  I studied painting at Wimbledon School of Art and at the Royal Academy Schools in London. At the RA there was a strong tradition of life drawing held within its historic life room. I was always drawn to the figurative, but ironically it was at the Academy that my love of abstract painting really developed. With eight years of study behind me, my style was determined, and a true love of oil paint as my preferred medium and a desire to connect has continued to drive my inspiration to paint.

5- Your work is simple and complicated at the same time, how do you explain that?  I spend a lot of time thinking about painting, making sketches, reading, looking, absorbing different influences. I then have to wait for the muse to inspire me to take up the brushes and paint. I like to paint quickly and with intent, to get the idea down succinctly and as minimally as possible. Simplicity and directness isn’t always that easy to achieve, it is elusive, and sometimes requires many layers of paint and rubbing off to achieve the final composition. That’s when it becomes more complex.

6-What else interests you besides art?  I love to swim in the sea and cook!

7-Is there any reality behind the characters in your paintings?  The characters that appear in my paintings are mostly from my imagination or inspired by people watching or photography. Archetypal women mainly. Although a lot of them I relate to personally and in them I can see either myself, or sometimes my daughters, son or husband.

8- What advice would you give putative collectors?  As I get older, and I am still painting and immersed in my work, it seems to me that the culmination of experience is ever more present in the paintings. Buy because you love and relate to something in the painting.

9- What is the origin of each of your paintings (imagination, inspiration….)?  A condensed idea. If abstract, maybe from a dream… if figurative, maybe a photograph from a magazine. Each painting usually begins with a wash of color over the whole surface of the canvas and by looking, the painting will hopefully start talking to me.

10- Do you listen to music while creating? If yes, what genre?  Yes, I find it helps zone me out if I’m actually full on immersed in painting. Otherwise I need silence until the ideas start to flow. Although if there is a complete block of ideas, sometimes music really helps. I used to listen to a lot of classical music mainly string quartets and chamber music or solo piano, cello, violin, but now I tend toward an eclectic playlist of personally liked songs on Spotify. New songs are added daily… from The Rolling Stones to Radiohead to Lou Reed, from Arsun to Harry Styles and Jockstrap back to Joni Mitchell. Music can definitely change my mood and get the creative juices flowing.

11- The last piece of art that totally blew your mind?  Andy Warhol 1970 by Alice Neel seen in the flesh at The Barbican in London earlier this year.

12- If you could live in a museum anywhere in the world which would it be?  One of my favourite places to visit is the Barbara Hepworth museum in St Ives, Cornwall. It was where she lived and worked until her death in 1975. Either there or the Guggenheim in New York, the Maeght Foundation in the South of France, Charleston Farmhouse, home to the Bloomsbury group or the Pallant House Gallery, the two latter both in Sussex, England.

13- Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?  I love Cornwall, the sea and wide open spaces. I love visiting London, with its major exhibitions and plethora of independent galleries and fantastic restaurants.  My home and my collection of books is my true inspiration and where I can most easily dream from.

14- What is the hardest thing to come to terms with about being an Artist?  Finding enough time and space, physically and emotionally to truly immerse oneself in the practice of creating.

15-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  A large desk, preferably empty (before working). Light, preferably daylight, and mojo. (and paint!)

16-If you were asking the questions what question would you ask and please answer the question. 

Q: What do you want to achieve in your work?

A: My own truth, an expression or culmination of who or what I really am. The revelation of my own mysterious being. Aren’t all humans a mystery, wanting and waiting to be revealed? I do believe I can better do this through painting rather than words.

17-How would someone find you on Social media?  Instagram @studio.dubrey

18- Please name the first thing that comes to your mind while reading the following:

Art=Essential

Food=Long, relaxed meals, beautifully and simply prepared

Sports=Recreation

Politics=We need to do better

Poor=Shackled

God=Female

Rich=A power to be used wisely

Luxury=Yes please!

Sex=Life-force

Picasso=Master of line, genius, Art Monster

Religion=It should be personal