In this Focus on Female Artists blog, I meet Louise Connell, a watercolour artist and sculptor working mainly in recycled materials. Louise’s love of making is an integral part of her life.

I asked her to tell me a bit about her work and what inspires her.

“I come from a family where everyone is creative, but practical with it. Rather like in musical families, where everyone plays an instrument, we push each other to become better. But we can also take the ability to draw and paint for granted.

As a child growing up on the remote North West coast of Scotland, I was surrounded by the unspoilt beauty of the natural world. I spent hours studying rock pools, catching sea creatures to put in them, knowing that they could all escape on the next high tide.

I’ve always been fascinated by fish, which is why they appear in some of my more illustrative work. I also love to create fish and other sea creatures from recycled tin cans.”

“In this example, the body of the fish is made from ring-pull lids that I used to make the scales. The tins themselves are cut and fashioned into the tail and fins.

My tin fish are made from tail to head, to replicate the way the scales naturally overlap on a live fish.”

“My process begins with a drawing, which is the same size as the proposed sculpture. Then I build the creatures using only hand tools — a metal hole punch, pop riveter, pliers, tin snips, rivets and a good pair of gloves. The fish are hollow, so they are surprisingly light but strong. I finish them by spraying them silver and decorating them with acrylic paint and metallic powders.

I studied conservation and restoration at Lincoln college of Art. The course was very varied. We learned all sorts of crafts, from lace making to book binding. But my interest was really sparked by surface decoration — things like oil and water gilding, marbling and imitating various natural finishes.”

“I use my gilding skills in silver leafing boards, which I emboss with gesso and decorate by adding patterns and images of fish, birds, figures.

Sometimes I’m inspired by the tarnished silver leaf and what the patination suggests to me.

I now live in Robin Hood’s Bay, a beautiful village on the North Yorkshire coast. It’s where I learned to ride horses as a teenager. Robin Hood’s Bay lies in a stunning position between the moors and sea. It offers a real wealth of subject matter for the landscapes and seascapes I love to paint. I return to the same views again and again. I’ll never tire of trying to capture the different lights and moods.”

Louise is a member of the Robin Hood’s Bay Art Group, a supportive collective of women artists. You can find more inspiration in my Focus on Female Artists blog series.