King Blue, by the Slade School alumni, Miranda Pissarides is a perfect example of her determination to constantly challenge the painting practice. In creating this King Blue, the artist challenged herself to paint as much depth and variety of colour as possible using the bare minimum of pigment. The final version of the work consists only two blue pigments yet carries an enormous sense of depth and warmth.

Hand selecting raw pigments and resin, Miranda Pissarides mixes her paints in a specific recipe developed through years of practice, commitment and late-night studio experiments. This guarded concoction is then painted, pulled and drawn across canvases to the artist’s satisfaction before being fixed in position using a flame thrower and palette knife. The canvas is revisited over numerous days with pigment and resin reapplied to create the layers of different textures that we see in her finished work.

Miranda Pissarides, graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art after a Foundation Diploma in Fine Art at Central St. Martins. Her first solo show, titled In Transit, was held at Weissraum Gallery in Japan in 2015. During the same year she won her first art prize as the winner of the Art Slant Showcase Award, then later the QCL London Arts Award and in 2018 she was the Fine Art winner of the Saatchi Art & Music Love Art: Young Artist Prize. Her work continues to reach international acclaim with solo and group exhibitions in London, Rome, Turin, Nicosia, New York, Jerusalem, Sao Paolo and Kyoto.

To learn more on Miranda's painting technique and on what the sea means to her, The Auction Collective made a trip to her studio to ask her a few questions. You can see the full video of the interview here.