As seen in her most recent paintings - Violet, Peony, Cornflower and Autumn, Bennett’s latest works are inspired in part by her interest in Manga and Anime. The women depicted in Rose, Amandine and Coralie are anonymous and yet we can imagine them as heroines straight out of a Studio Ghibli animation. Their expression is subtle and mysterious with their eyes closed, seemingly deep in thought. While they may appear gentle and unassuming, the women’s calm expression emphasised by Bennett’s carefully controlled lines, exude an element of inner-power, and they seem somehow to possess other worldly attributes and extreme Zen-like qualities.

Bennett has always been inspired by nature, her works often incorporating references to particular plants or flowers she has encountered and studied through drawing. Here, she names her figures after elements of the natural world - Amandine and Rose being of plant variety, and Coralie referencing the sea. A flower can also be seen in Rose’s hair and Amandine holds one in the very foreground of the painting.

Alongside the forms and shapes of flora, Bennett describes her preoccupation with nature’s colours, as being an important influence on her palette:

“…a dark burgundy on an underside of a mid-red leaf, a textured sage-green plant nestling alongside a rich, shiny bay… the lilacs and periwinkle blues of thistle flowers alongside big soft highly scented pink-white roses - I am captivated by the endless inspiration presented by nature”

These references to nature, while subtle, further enhance the other-worldly quality of Bennett’s women - perhaps referencing their deep connection to Mother Nature.

As seen in previous paintings, Bennett uses luscious gloss paint on aluminium panels rather than canvas. This creates a perfectly smooth surface that reflects light and creates a wet-look effect, illuminating the seemingly effortlessly drawn lines. Before putting any paint to canvas, Bennett sketches numerous pencil drawings that are then carefully fine-tuned, the lines simplified and refined until they are ready to form the basis for a painting. Her process is meticulously executed, however it is also organic - the finished painting often naturally diverting from the original drawing.

Rose, Amandine and Coralie each utilise carefully chosen compositions that place the faces within the frame in just the right manner. This close-up composition accentuates the intimacy of the images, and Bennett intentionally leaves out certain elements of the figures’ bodies: in Coralie she allows just one-side of the shoulder to lead us down to a hint of the woman’s breast; in Rose she leaves out the extended length of the arm; and in Amandine the figure’s eyes sit at the very top of the painting, her forehead and the left side of her hair sitting just outside of the frame.

As a series, Amandine and Rose being of plant variety, and Coralie fit perfectly into Bennett’s artistic oeuvre, defined by her accomplished drawing and painting technique. However, while stylistically they seem as one - sharing simple line work, a reduced colour palette, and the subjects appearing ageless in form - Bennett regards each of these women as unique, with their own distinct personality. Much like anime films, they appear from the same world, but also have their own path to take and individual story to tell.

There is certainly something cinematic about these compositions, the paintings representative of a film-still where we are presented with the protagonist up close to the screen - their expression frozen in time and the full reveal just around the corner. However, in Bennett’s paintings, the mystery is retained - the paintings never fully revealing themselves. Instead, Bennett invites us into the private worlds of these women, presenting just enough to draw her audience in but leaving the full story up to us to interpret. We can only imagine what mysteries lie beyond their expressions.

You can find more details about the three paintings, Amandine, Rose and Coralie, on Lucie Bennett’s artist page here.