red and yellow and pink and green

Last Friday I attended the launch of Hannah Leach‘s exhibition of paintings at the Old Joint Stock, Birmingham. Hannah is a one of those people who is brilliantly talented and good at everything. She is an amazing writer, a wonderful painter, she can dance, she models, and she also has a thriving hypnotherapy practice. Her hair is currently a very bright shade of pink, which isn’t a talent as such, but does take some skill to pull off with flair. Which of course, she does.

Her paintings have a great depth of colour, and also use shape in very interesting ways. There is realness in her work, but everything is slanted. I was particularly captivated by a series of small watercolours, which, from a distance, appear to be photographs. The closer you get, the more indistinct and painterly they become. It’s very mysterious.

If you are in Birmingham, pop into the Old Joint Stock and take a look. (You have to go right up to the top of the building – to where the theatre is.) She can do prints as well, if you can’t afford an original – but there are a range of pictures at very affordable prices, so if you fall in love with one, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be yours.

If you’re not in Birmingham, have a look at her website where there are images of some of the larger paintings. Try to see them in real if you can.