Lizzie Cornelius, artist behind icanseethesea
Lizzie was born in Sandhurst, Berkshire and currently resides in her seafront home on Hayling Island with no kids no pets but just 1 husband.
My life by the sea and my skills as a photographer, have provided me with endless inspiration for my paintings and art projects.
I capture the image of seaside life by deconstructing the photographic image and reconstructing paintings in my unique simple and honest style.
My work has also been applied to a wide range of national commissions and projects, and have been shipped internationally.
if you would like to have a piece commissioned by me get in touch.
How it started...
Lizzie was always very creative as a child and loved painting and making 3d sculptures. She entered the world of work at 18 working within the Inland Revenue. During her time here she continued to practise many art forms at alocal college, such as Life Drawing, Ceramics and Stained-Glass Window.
After 10 years working and being suffocated mentally, she decided to leave and pursue her passion in the creative arts.
In the year 2000 she attended an access course in Art & Design at Chichester studying all types of disciplines from Painting including life drawing, textiles, ceramics, sculpture and history of art.
Lizzie worked from home for 10 years exhibiting locally and country wide. When an opportunity to lease a Hotwalls Studio in Old Portsmouth came up in 2016 she jumped at the chance and opened her studio to the public every day. Here she gained local recognition, and many pieces were shipped worldwide. In 2023 Lizzie moved to her current studio and gallery space in The Porters Lodge at The Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth.
The art..
The inspiration for my coastal artwork has come from living on the beach at Hayling Island and travelling along the many beautiful coastlines in the UK & abroad. Portsmouth. My art is simple yet effective and I work in a naive style. Using acrylic paints and a black oil pen, I outline the block colours which makes them come to life.
I love the process of creating original coastal art for clients often depicting special places they have visited, special family memories, their home towns, much loved pets or even Royal Navy ships. The process starts with a photographic image followed by a pencil sketch.
This process of deconstructing the photograph and then reconstructing the sketch will often find the reality and sketch not to be geographically accurate, but pleasing to the eye with a natural flow.
From here I will mix my paint colours to give a pastel appearance and a slightly vintage feel, recreating bygone days at the British seaside. The colours often change on the canvas until I make the perfect combinations, then I apply the finishing touches of the black oil pen