Carolyn Little

Carolyn Little was born in Swansea in 1943 but grew up in Haverfordwest.

She studied at Swansea College of Art from 1962 until 1966, then taught Art in secondary schools in London and Swansea.

In 1990 she gave up full-time teaching to become a part-time adult education lecturer for the University of Wales Swansea and to concentrate on painting. She is now retired but continues to pursue her painting.

She has been exhibiting her work regularly since 1979 in solo, joint and mixed shows, most recently in Heritage Park Gallery, Rhondda, Cynon Valley Museum & Gallery, Aberdare, Circle Gallery, Muni Arts Centre, Pontypridd, Celf Cambria Arts, Tregaron, Attic Gallery, Swansea, St David's Hall, Cardiff, Gate Gallery, Cardiff, Barker Gallery, Pontypool, Oriel Ffynnon, Llandeilo, Senedd, National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff Bay. She is a member of the Women's Arts Association.

"My paintings come from a variety of sources. Each painting starts because I have seen some thing or place that I have found visually interesting in some way. Perhaps an old piece of rusting machinery, a decaying tree trunk, full of distinctive shapes and exciting textures, but these I use merely as basic shapes, not as reference. The pictures themselves evolve as the colours are added and begin to relate with each other. My chief interest is colour and I am attracted to bright colours, so I am constantly trying to balance one strong colour with another, and often use fluorescent paint to intensify that brightness. I usually make square paintings because I like the discipline of having to fit my conception in to a uniform space."