Born and bred in Rhyl, North Wales as of 1974, contemporary artist Kerry Darlington might have spent time travelling to exotic locations across the globe, yet has re-settled just a handful of miles further up that same North Wales coast in Prestatyn. It’s here that Darlington creates her bright and wonderful all things great and small, including her almost-signature tree compositions and her most recent forays into the realms of childhood fantasy figures and environs, such as Alice (of Wonderland postcode), Peter Pan, the Wizard of Oz and the Magic Far Away Tree. All characters and books instantly memorable to a child born of the 1970s. Indeed, the subject of trees is held particularly dear to Darlington, with Tree of Tranquillity, Tree of Harmony, Tree of Patriotism and Tree of Temptation being testament to this trunk, branch and leaf artistic whimsy. Darlington, arguably made her creative name courtesy of her unique ‘Tree of Life’ collection, which sees trees bearing all manner of obvious and not so obvious flora and fauna; covering butterflies, owls, lollipops and gemstones alongside the more familiar leaves.
However as already mooted, Darlington has of late put the trees down for a while, moved away from them and not necessarily stopped to look over her shoulder, as she’s rolled back the fictional children’s book years and originated and manifested some stunning, intricate, personable works of art that connect directly with the hearts and minds of anyone who’s ever read some of the most famous works found in this genre, from the revered likes of J M Barrie, L Frank Baum, Enid Blyton and Lewis Carroll. Indeed, Darlington’s love of art originally stemmed from such well-thumbed titles that were found in her family’s bookcase as a girl and inspired a young Darlington to explore the world of art in the first instance. Darlington expressed a deal of early learning years interest in Arthur Rackham’s elaborate pen and ink work, who the Welsh contemporary artist cites as being instrumental in her initial illustrative art education. So much so, that she was adamant that she’d grow up to become a children’s book illustrator.
Going on to study Illustration at degree level, Darlington then chose to move to Bolivia, before returning to her native UK shores to assume the role of Designer and Illustrator for an exclusive company which produced predominantly clay murals for high-end clients, which eventually led her to where she finds herself today, artistically-speaking. It was that exposure to clay murals that gave Darlington the confidence to apply her favoured watercolour, acrylic and oil paints to less obvious choices of surface area, having hitherto persevered with her tried and tested pen and ink, which she had taken as far as perhaps she could have done at that juncture. Darlington’s acrylic compositions are structured in a layered, transparent manner which projects a natural, uncomplicated depth to the finished article, and as opposed to sealing it with a varnish as is the case of so many artist’s works, instead Darlington opts to secure the textures within, as well as toy with the presence of light, with the advent of resin.
Aside from the aforementioned authors of children’s picture book titles, Darlington’s influences have come more from artistic movements rather than individual creators, hinting at both the Art Nouveau and Pre-Raphaelites per se being pivotal to her own understanding and evolution of art and its implications. Realising her dreams within the context of being a professional artist, Darlington has witnessed something of a meteoric rise within the industry and is acknowledged as a mover and shaker within her own genre. In May 2012 Darlington received the ‘Best-Selling Published Artist’ award by the Fine Art Trade Guild, whilst her book illustrations have been released as unique edition prints, one of which – Midnight Garden – sold out within a month. Elsewhere public demand for Darlington’s ‘Mad Hatters Tea Party’ outstripped supply, thus resulting in massively inflated values on the second hand market thereafter.
Looking to the immediate future and next on the horizon for Darlington is further illustrative book work, including ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’, two subject matters discovered very close to the Welsh artist’s heart. Beyond that, and it’s the release of a selection of her figurative pieces as unique editions, which Darlington considers to be far more intimate and something which she’s been developing over the past five years.
