Rising artist Ania Hobson is now best known for her portraits but she will be returning to her landscape roots for an Easter exhibition at the Snape Maltings.
Ania, who was selected for the BP Portrait Awards competition last year at the National Portrait Gallery, is staging an exhibition of her Suffolk-inspired countryside and animal pictures at the Maltings Gallery, Snape.
Ania says: “I am primarily a portrait artist but I still enjoy switching my hand to landscapes and greyhounds which is what will be on display at Snape.
“The landscapes are from around the Tunstall and Rendlesham area as my studio is based in Bentwaters. I drive through the forest daily and stop off when I can go catch the sunset and take photographs and sketch. When the sun hits the trees in Tunstall I am fascinated by the colours it brings out in the ferns and heather. It gives me a great opportunity to carry on exploring colours and getting it down on canvas.”
Ania started her painting career doing paintings of animals and views of Suffolk farmland around her home, outside Saxmundham. This is a return to those early animal studies which first fired her enthusiasm for art.
“The greyhounds are about exploring and studying their anatomy and architecture of their bones and muscles. They have always been really popular and something I will continue doing. I’m really flattered and excited to be showing at one of Suffolk most popular galleries.
“I haven’t turned back my back on portraits. I still adore painting people but they say, a change is as good as a rest, and by painting greyhounds it refreshes your drawing skills and teaches you to look and observe and interact with something that can’t talk back to you.
“You still have to capture a likeness, still have to capture a personality but you have transmit something that is unspoken.
“That was how I started. I started doing cows, goats, anything... but then I moved across into doing portraits. I love portraits because you can capture so much more than just a likeness of a face. Trying to capture the essence of a person is what makes it interesting.”
Hounds and Landscapes by Ania Hobson is at the Maltings Gallery from March 31-April 27.
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