“Myths are dramatised psychology, an expression of the inner life through the creative imagination.
There was nothing mythical about my meeting with pauline Rignall in her studio nestled among the quintessential English Derbyshire hills. Pauline is a gentle sensuous soul one that is reflected in many of her paintings, albeit not that obvious to the casual observer of her figurative paintings. However, her landscape painting do reflect a serenity and an appreciation of the beauty of nature that surrounds her. Pauline's has a deceptive strength of character that is partially masked by a playfulness and genuine love of Art and literature. painters TUBES magazine became aware of her a number of years ago. A long time inspiration for her inspiration has been an ancient Sumerian myth documented by the psychologist, Sylvia Brinton Perera in "Descent To The Goddess."
This story centres around the Goddess Innana who is a sky goddess who visits her sister Ereshkigal in the underworld. This drama later evolved into the myth of Persephone and Pluto. Pauline says. " I found the image of Innana being left naked to die on the stake, emerged into my painting. This symbolizes the female cross and prefigures Christ and Odin. She is the ancestress of the Gnostic Sophie. It is a complex myth connecting the dark side of the feminine which has been outcast in the social and internalised structure of patriarchy.”
Paulines colour palette is dominated by a rich [darkish] blue, a colour that the Ancient Greeks regarded as Holy. There is something luxurious and sensual about her painting. They are strangely relaxing, although the 'back-story' of some of them may not have been intended to be so. As an artist Pauline is a deep thinker and it was refreshing for me to meet a contemporary artist that isn't so overly self concerned with pleasing the crowd by painting images that are commercial, but using paint as an art form and as a mode of expressing classical ideas in a truly original and authentic manner. But, like us all, she has to pay the rent, put food on the table and buy essential raw materials to continue her quest of original art creation.
Pauline has been successful with a number of large paintings in galleries, the Cupola Gallery in Sheffield, the Bessemer Gallery, also in Sheffield, plus the Silson Gallery in Harrogate, to mention a few. In late 2017, Pauline was also commissioned to create a large landscape painting (2000mm x 1000mm) for a client of the Rivers Edge Gallery,
