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Chloe Waterfield is an English expat who’s lived in Malta for over a decade – so one might say she is an Anglo-Maltese artist. But she describes her art as international, it draws its inspiration from all over the world, both human but especially natural. Chloe is inspired by the beauty of the natural world and the plight it faces in our time. She claims that her art seeks to make people admire the natural world the way a documentary by Sir David Attenborough does.
How did you get started?
I never really had a ‘start’ as such. I’ve been immersed in art for as long as I can remember. I was always inspired by nature and I would create drawings from encyclopaedias and nature books and when in 2008 I began painting on canvas I developed a lifelong fascination with Prehistoric art – and the rest is (pre) history!
What genre do you consider your work to be?
I would class my art as inspired by Expressionism, Impressionism and Palaeolithic art influences all rolled into one. I have experimented with themes including natural history, extinctions, climate change, endangered peoples and cultures, other times it’s the styles of cave art found in prehistoric caves of France and Spain. On a good day, I see all three happily co-existing on one canvas.
Describe your work in less than 10 words.
Art inspired by the natural world and the Palaeolithic.
Where was your first exhibition held?
My first solo exhibition was held at the Cavalieri Art Hotel back in 2013 called ‘The Art Instinct’ and since then I’ve had other solo and collective exhibitions, as well as having a piece exhibited in the USA.
How long have you been practising your art?
I never started and I never stopped practising art, it’s a part of my life. About six years ago I took part in a collective exhibition and my ‘professional’ career kicked off from there.
Which is your favourite from among your own artworks?
My favourite works are my Palaeolithic inspired pieces, my pride and joy being The Solutrean Expression; a modern take on a 20, 000 year-old artwork unofficially called Red Cow and Chinese Horse painted in the Lascaux cave. This piece was exhibited in the USA as part of a juried art show.
Whose artist’s work are you most inspired by?
My biggest influences, apart from the nameless, mythical Palaeolithic artists, are Franz Marc, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, and Van Gogh. Anything pre-1950s please.
If you weren’t an artist, what would you be?
I’d like to think I’d be working out in nature, perhaps as a field biologist or researcher, or else perhaps a writer, as I spent a number of years focusing on writing as an accompaniment to my art.
What is the epitome of happiness for you?
Happiness is doing something that drives you; finding out as much about yourself as possible. Happiness is about knowledge and the thirst for it.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am currently working on reviving my Palaeolithic style which I haven’t gone into much in the last few years. I’m aiming at creating more dynamic pieces on a grander scale than before to somehow, in my own humble way, do justice to the grandiose works painted on the cave walls of our pre-history.
Are you a morning person or do you come alive at night?
Painting is best done in the evenings.
How many coffees a day? Don’t embellish.
I’m a tea person.
Sundays can be very productive for some and very unproductive for others. How do you spend yours?
I have a full-time job so Sunday is usually my day to get creative – I spend a few hours painting and the rest of the day doing things that help creativity, being going swimming with my dog or watching documentaries.
Wine and cheese. Yes or no?
No.
If you were given a million euros, what would you indulge yourself with?
Making another million euros through opening a large art gallery and investing in my career. I would probably leave a little aside for some self-indulgence too.
Favourite place to holiday?
New Zealand and the Arctic are the two dreams of mine. But I do like travelling to Spain, country of Guernica and Altamira (but not the bullfighting).
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