Joan Batty
I am a ‘Bradford Lass’ who chose to settle in Queensbury thirty – some years ago. I have drawn for most of my life but never had any formal training. My love of buildings has been the main focus of my work and was the starting point for the five – locally well known – Queensbury calendars I produced. Three issued in the 1980’s followed by two more in the mid 1990’s. Continuing with pencils as a preferred medium, I digressed into colour, beginning to take a wider view and encompassing landscape work.
At the insistence of my steam–fanatic son that I should at least try, a collection of steam engines emerged, closely followed by a similar one of trams. These have since been issued in print form.
In 1999 two other interests, maps and their creation and local history, were combined in devising a “Queensbury Map” and subsequently the “Halifax Map” in 2004.
This revived my initial interest in buildings and drove me to produce two series of drawings based on street scenes in Halifax and Bradford.
For my coloured drawings I have a variety of pencils, among them Derwent and Karismacolour. For the monochrome ones I generally stick with a 2B or below. I rarely use a softer one than that as the smudge factor is harder for me to control. Mountboard is what I prefer to work on, but occasionally use a good quality cartridge.
There is immense satisfaction and relaxation for me in creating drawings. My work has sold steadily over a number of years giving me confidence and incentive to try new ventures. Underlying everything for me is the fascination with light, shadow and the combinations of colour which are ever present and ever changing.
