Interview with Kay Boys

Kay Boyce has trained in formal ballet and contemporary dance; she had well developed ideas of female movement and thus produce highly detailed pastels and pencil drawings of women and their movements. I love Kay Boyce because she adds a soft style to her paintings by adding Victorian clothes and antiques.

I had a chance to interview her and she was able to answer a few of my question.

q. When and how did you start painting?

ans-I began painting when I was a young girl, drawing on rolls of wallpaper. My first ever picture was a painting by numbers of two kittens.

q. Do u have any artist who inspire you?

ans-I have studied artists such as Rubens, Alma Tadama, Degas, and other old masters, looking at the way they paint skin and material.My first commision was while I was at College, to paint a portrait, and after leaving College, working on murals and advertising work.

q. where do you get your ideas and inspiration from?

ans-My ideas are from within, having been a dancer, (which I still like to do) I am inspiredby the form and stance of the female form. I am always looking and thinking about images.

q. Do you have any favourite among your work so far?

ans- I have just completed a piece of work, which is a still life of ballet shoes, which I greatly enjoyed, but I don`t really have a favourite.My biggest achievement has been to have the recognition of my work, I never thought I would be one of the top selling female figure artists in the UK.

q. What kind of media do you use on your work?

ans- I start my pictures by working on the skin tone first.I use mixed media, pastel , gouache, coloured pencils, and also watercolour, but my technique has been worked on over the last twenty years.

q. Are there any meaning behind your work?

ans- There is no deep meaning to my work, I just love costume and material. I have not been influenced by any specific event to enhance my work, just dance and that I feel a woman should be as elegant as she can.I have a studio at home, in the Welsh hills where I work.I would describe my work as being detailed and feminine.

q. Are you planning to do any more work on sculpture?

ans- There is no plan at the moment to work on another sculpure.,i but have not worked on exhibtions over the last 10 years as I have had a long waiting list for my work, so it has been hard to get a collection of work together to exhibit, but will be doing more.I am waiting to carry on with an oil painting which I am very excited about, and is my new direction.Douglas Hoffman is an artist I greatly admire.