By Monica Chard
Here we have a very different view of Shepperton. It is the creation of local, Denise Rossell-Jones and it was brought to my attention by a friend and neigh-bour.
In the painting Shepperton is represent-ed by landmarks and areas which make our home town. See how many you can spot: Shepperton studios, the weir, Wal-ton bridge, the bridge over to D’Oyly Carte island, a traffic jam behind a cy-clist, houses of old Shepperton, St Nicholas church, the war memorial, Manor Park, Shepperton lock and the Thames, the swimming lake and Shep-perton eateries. It was created with a sense of humour and in an unusual style.
Denise was introduced to art by her mother who painted in oils. She herself started taking art seriously in the 1990’s, taking private lessons with several tu-tors, trying out techniques and mediums until she hit on her own style. She also learned Chinese art and having studied calligraphy for 10 years she was com-fortable with inks. Many of her paint-ings are ink based and watercolour fin-ish.
You may have come across ‘Zentangle’ in the recent popular form of meditative doodling books (Google it if not). Zen-tangle is an easy to learn, relaxing and fun way of creating images by drawing structured patterns (tangles). As the method is spontaneous you focus on a pattern, not nec-essarily on drawing something. As a result it is very relaxing and mind liberating. Denise now teaches this method in workshops for, amongst others, the U3A. Many of her own paintings have Zentangle at their heart, with watercolour added to create really interesting pieces.
Doodling has long been a relaxing pastime for many, but this art takes it to the next level.
Denise is constantly looking for new projects and inspirations. While I was with her she was looking at 3D art. She finds the whole process frees the mind as you concentrate on creating, not ruminating.
Art is only one of her skills. It is not every day you meet a lady with a black belt in Kara-te and who is first Dan Judo. After she was mugged once, she decided to take some self defence and ended up competing successfully. She is also co-author of a book called Self Defense for Women which is available on Amazon.