Ali McNabney-Stevens’ recent series of work explores the links between nostalgic flashes of her past, and joining them with the here and now.

Her relationship with the Ulster landscape in her home of Northern Ireland in particular evokes deep emotions. The exploration of these memories coupled with day-to-day happenings has brought an expressive freedom to Ali’s work. Using flora and fauna as a catalyst, this fresh perspective has seen her creating a personal iconography through the use of oil paint.

Always returning to pure expression through line, Ali finds figurative shape and definition through negative spaces, conveying a strong sense of motion and urgency in every movement. This results in a loose mapping of Ali’s past and present.

Working to a large scale, Ali’s process is intuitive and fast paced. Drawing on a distinctive colour palette, she weaves memory and line over controlled layers of paint. Gaining inspiration from the characteristics of the oil, the artist is anything but sparing. Manipulating the medium to suit her expressive style, she relishes in the artistic process, drawing on every characteristic of the paint.

Ali describes her artistic process as an author writing a book.

“I always feel as if I am working on the edge of something, with my sole aim being to give life to the painting. The painting takes me where it wants to go”