An Interview with Maria Burton

Isn't it a lovely evening to be sat outside just watching the world go by?! You needn't have gotten your finest Bone China mug out for me you know I'm a klutz although the Lady Grey tea seems to bring out the orange flavour and the Graham's fruit scones are delightful. I don't know how you can drink your tea so weak and with a drop of milk. ​

How was your morning Maria, have I stopped your productivity? Not at all after breakfast I watched a painting tuition video, then a Nespresso coffee and scone and I was painting for most of the day. The Mornings tend to be my most productive. If I'm not in a corner of my room at home permanently set up with acrylics, I'll be at my studio in the EVAN Gallery in Penrith, which is permanently set up with Oils and acrylics and an exhibition studio too.

Are you painting everyday
Almost everyday - if I'm not painting, drawing or thinking about it, I'm researching.

I love the freedom in your paintings, I wish I could be a bit more like that, how do you start one of your paintings?
For Landscapes it is sketches, then memory and experience of the time, place and weather, ‘feeling’ takes over. Rarely, but occasionally a photograph to check a line or two. There are lots of layers and scraping off in between too. Photos are a must for portraits, I haven't done many Portraits live as I'm new at this part of the game. Lots of still life from observation.
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Where do you get your inspiration from?
Being alive! I am easily excited by all manner of things and painting became total from 2014. The work of striking energy filled work and of course this wonderful world of fells, landscapes, light, wind, weather etc.

Your paintings look like they take ages and I saw you earlier as you was finishing off doing a little layering how long does it take to complete one of your paintings?
Impossible to say - all my lifetime to get here, every walk I go on, every pause to look, every sketch, course, programme watched. Some happen on canvas fast, most take a long time as I revisit them over weeks usually but have several on the go at once.
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Are you always satisfied with the end results?
I love the whole journey - some paintings work , lots don’t but it is still fun to keep trying to make it better and better - whatever that means! I do like some more than others as it might capture an essence that is not possible to articulate in words. I paint over paintings frequently, not always because they don’t ‘cut the mustard’ I'll have just learned something else or it might be a study not intended for showing.

I've always wanted to take a month off and go travelling round Italy and soak in all their wondrous out of the way places for a bit of painting inspiration, where would you go?
The UK or if it didn’t involve the plane journey - New Zealand. Weather, scenery, atmosphere, awesome landscapes. Great attitude in that country too - led by a great PM. 

Where would you suggest anyone coming to Cumbria to paint?
Pack up a lunch box and go slightly off the beaten track just away from the hotspots. 10 minutes off any major hotspot and you lose 95% of people! Sandwiches on the fe
llside is always enjoyable, but don't forget to take your rubbish home.

​Any tips for new artists young or old?
Paint loads - study old masters, draw even more than paint - be ready to spend a lot of time doing your art and telling people you do it! Be proud of what you do and most of all - WORK AS HARD AS YOU CAN AND HARDER THAN MOST OTHER PEOPLE! Be generous with your knowledge and help others.

Maria's book 'Catching Constant Change' and is out now, available through Maria and the E.V.A.N gallery and studios in Penrith

Did you catch Elizabeth Acland, Haydn Morris, & Margaret Jones's interview. Click on the name to read.