Natalya displayed an unfinished canvas as part of her Open Studio project. Visitors were able to watch a video recording of her computer screen as she designed the composition of the canvas in Photoshop. This digital aspect of her process breaks down an existing artwork into fragments of shapes and line that are then filled with patterns that Natalya has created and stored in her own pattern library.

Behind the canvas, you can see a cyanotype, paintings on board and card, a soft sculpture, a silicon mould, swatches and a print-out of the composition that Hughes had begun to paint. Notice the relationship between the soft sculpture and the swirling blue line on the painting to the top right of the image. The line is the mark of Hughes’ computer mouse which she has transfered onto a board and painted with more precision than the original digital mark.

For Natalya Hughes, the control of colour and an understanding of the medium of paint is of fundamental importance. Here you can see a simple and neat way to manage colours that is particularly useful when working on a large canvas with multiple and complex colour relationships. The small seal-able bags will keep paint wet for a short duration which will help to save paint to some extent, but more importantly when dry the notes and pigment can act as swatches with instructions on how to mix a similar colour again.

Sitting within an old suitcase is the print-out of one of the compositions that Hughes designed as part of her Woman series. The print-out is sealed in a plastic sleeve with a strip of blue tap on the top. Hughes would have moved this print-out around a large canvas as she and her painting assistant built up multiple layers of flat paint.

You can view two works from her Woman series here.

Here you can see how Natalya Hughes works with her studio assistant. A print-out of the composition is tapped onto a canvas in development. A small note is on the work as well. The note is one of many that have been left across different areas of the painting that might be finished or require specific attention. There is a level of planning and detail in Hughes’ work that is not easily spotted by an untrained eye. For any person who has spent time painting, the patient, careful and deliberate layering of paint is clear to see. On a large scale that attention to detail creates an immense visual impact that is a signature of Natalya Hughes’ aesthetic.

Hughes’ textile work is interconnected with her paintings and installations. Textiles enable her to communicate her interests in pattern and form, materiality, fashion, furniture design and decoration. Through modern advances in the availability of digital tools through which a pattern can be developed into a print, Natalya is able to work a pattern from hand as a painter into the digital as a designer and back into the hand-made as textile artist. Through this process, Hughes has made soft sculptures, linen, wallpaper, clothing and upholstery.

Pattern making is an ongoing passion for Hughes. She has explored the world of patterns through a range of publications and tools, including the V&A pattern books and acrylic stencils pictured here. Notice the purple upholstery on the chair in the picture. This chair features a pattern of Hughes’ own design and sits proudly in her home studio.