Life in abstract: Shrewsbury's Georgina Walton hitting her stride in the art world

On the walls there are splashes of paint, patches of wallpaper and a series of easels with large pieces of abstract art.

“What I do is a mix between fine art and interior design in a way,” says the 27-year-old. “It’s something I just kind of fell into as I have always been interested in interiors. I’ll usually go to their house and they will have a space in mind where they want the piece.

“The paintings that aren’t commissions come out a bit more colourful – I think it’s me expressing myself more.”

Georgina’s profile in Shrewsbury has been on the rise since returning to her home town to live in Abbey Foregate, which also houses her studio.

The abstract artist is seeing her work sold by The Soden Collection art gallery on Wyle Cop alongside items by David Hockney and Alberto Giacometti, and she is also developing a reputation as a interior artist as well receiving individual commissions.

“What I do is a mix between fine art and interior design in a way,” says the 27-year-old. “It’s something I just kind of fell into as I have always been interested in interiors.

“The paintings that aren’t commissions come out a bit more colourful – I think it’s me expressing myself more.”

Georgina worked in PR for an interior design company and was a visual merchandiser for Harrods in London – both of which she says have give her a knack for helping to decorate people’s homes with her art.

“It’s nice to be a bit wild and put on bright pinks, metallics, golds and glitter – I’m a big fan of glitter, but it can be divisive,” she says with a smile while showing off some of her work.

Although the decision to get a job was something that would have been frowned upon by some of her contemporaries at the Chelsea College of Arts where she studied fine arts.

“At Chelsea there was a bit of a thing about people getting a nine to five job. People didn’t want to do that, I suppose it was a bit bohemian,” she says.

“So I just thought ‘I’m going to be an artist’. I did try for a couple of months after leaving university to just be an artist, but I made no money.

“At the age of 21 I didn’t really have any experience with that kind of thing, or running my own business. I sold a couple of paintings, but I just spent the money straight away. If it wasn’t for those jobs I had I’m not sure my art would look how it does – or if I would have a home.” Georgina was always destined for the arts. She admits she was an “average” student when it came to science and maths, but she excelled in art and drama.

She received an art scholarship to attend sixth form at Shrewsbury School and was the first of a female cohort to attend the all boys school.

“They took in girls for the first time when we went in 2008,” she says. “That gave me the confidence to do it and stick it out, which is so important in art. It is like pouring your soul out onto a canvas.”

In her first year there was a large focus on life drawings and landscapes, but it was in upper sixth she began her journey into her signature style of drips which feature in many of her paintings.

“Drips was the first thing I did when I was in upper sixth at school,” she said. “I decided I didn’t want to do anymore life drawings or another landscape of the Shropshire Hills.

“I saw some drip work by I think either Max Ernst or Hans Hofmann and said ‘oh what a shame the paint ran’. But then I looked more and saw it was more free and that it was going with the flow, literally. You can see that it’s paint and that it has a life of its own too. I paint with thick paint and it’s the natural thing for it to do.”

It was from there that Georgina moved to London to study at Chelsea where she met her fiancé Alex, and they returned to Shropshire after Georgina gave birth to her daughter Aurelia.

“I did a lot of art while on maternity leave,” she says. “I thought I may as well do something that is a job and a passion.

“I love working from home. I spend lots of time with Aurelia and I love that. But it’s nice to get time to come to the studio and get stuck in. Actually she made these little cards which I thought were great. I showed my mum and she said ‘oh they’re great Georgina, did you do them?’ I suppose that’s the problem with abstract art.”

One of the vices of abstract art is that it’s something that many believe they could just do themselves.

“I think if people tried I don’t think it would look the same,” she said. “It’s still quite a skill to get the structure of a canvas right, so being trained with landscape painting and portraiture, and after doing abstract painting you still have to think about the weight in places, the different colours and making sure they go together.

“I’ve now developed a style. If I look at the paintings I did 10 years ago I can really see they are not as confident and haven’t got a specific style to them.”

The process that Georgina now goes through on a painting days is quite simple. Choose some music to set the mood and then start painting.

“I will put some music on. I name a lot of my paintings after songs or lyrics of songs I was listening to at the time,” she says. “I flow with the music, it’s good for the gesture of the painting and keeping up the pace. Listening to music makes the painting more structured in a way.

“I do think a canvas out before painting. I’m not a Picasso where I can just go for it. There is a degree of free expression with it but it’s half planned and half free.”

If you would like to get in touch with Georgina then search for her at @georginawaltonart on Instagram or search ‘Georgina Walton Art’ on Facebook.