THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512130128
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
The style artist Lynn Hosegood champions depends on which home she's living in at the time.
When she's at her home in Devon, England, in the small fishing/tourist village of Morthoe, she's into impressionistic watercolors, trying to capture the picturesque environs of the area she and her husband live in from April through September.
When she's residing in her new Chesapeake home off of Cedar Road near Las Gaviotas, she concentrates on the acutely real portraits she renders for clients who want to be immortalized by her keen sense of realism and detail.
``We live on two continents,'' she said in her East London accent. ``In doing this sometimes we feel as if we have very long legs. But we like to avoid the humid East Coast summers and the very cold, wet and windy Devon winters. We get the best of both worlds.''
Hosegood lives in England and Chesapeake with her husband, Edward. A. ``Ted'' Hosegood, a retired industrial chemist. They have one son who's a business major at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
Before settling in Chesapeake, the Hosegoods lived in Delaware, Maryland and spent many years in Midlothian, on the outskirts of Richmond.
``I've been here (in the United States) since 1972,'' Hosegood said. ``Even though we're both from England, my husband and I met in Ocean City (Md.). When we're here we're considered English, but when we're in Devon they think we're Yanks.''
Hosegood received her bachelor of fine arts degree from Salisbury State College many years ago. While living in Midlothian she was a member of the Bon Air Artists Association, earning several awards at many of its sponsored shows.
``Right now I'm more well known in Richmond than I am here,'' Hosegood said. ``But I've recently joined the Tidewater Artists Association and plan to exhibit some of my works in future sanctioned shows.''
After Hosegood's husband retired, the couple searched around looking for just the right area on the East Coast to settle. While their son is at college, they wanted to be close by so he could visit home during the winter holidays.
After looking up and down the East Coast and all through South Hampton Roads, they decided on Chesapeake.
``We love Virginia and are familiar with the Richmond area, but when searching for a new, low-maintenance home we were impressed with the light and airy designs of homes in the Chesapeake area and its friendly, laid-back atmosphere and its cultural resources,'' she said. ``Plus we wanted to be able to see the sky and where we live in Chesapeake we can do that very well.''
When escaping the humid Virginia summers, the Hosegoods spend time hiking in the Devon countryside, which they say closely resembles the Maine coastline.
``We love hiking and sketching the beautiful and rugged Southwest Coast,'' Hosegood said. ``There's nothing better than taking a portable cooler, a chair and then sitting on a cliff sketching. When I'm in England I mainly do landscapes.''
Hosegood's watercolors and miniature watercolors show her style when she tries to capture the fleeting summer English light. Influenced by the great English watercolorist William Turner and American Winslow Homer, Hosegood likes to display nature in all its glory in bright, airy and impressionistic strokes and watercolor hues.
``But we always come back in time for the fall foliage season here and make regular jaunts to state parks and beaches,'' she said. ``During the winter and holiday season here I can concentrate on my portrait drawing and painting.''
To get started, Hosegood said she and her husband visited area art stores and galleries and children's stores posting fliers advertising her portrait work.
When she does her landscape work she said she tries to paint the scene as it unfolds before her eyes while she tries to capture fleeting light and shadows and how they impact the beautiful English coast.
``There I respond to the medium,'' she said. ``I use the flowing scope of watercolors or the pointy detail of colored pencils.''
But when she's in Chesapeake she has her clients come to her home. There she takes extensive photographs, showing all angles of her subject's face.
``I take many photos of my subject,'' she said. ``For the three head portrait I'm doing now I took over 70 photographs. When I do a client's portrait, I don't know them, but I begin to know them through the photos I take. While I take my photos I try to find ways to get my subjects to interact so I can snap various expressions and facial features.''
After sorting and poring over the photos, Hosegood selects a few that show good expressions and clear views of her client's face and shoulders.
With the exact photos she needs, Hosegood then begins her detailed pencil work. Ensconced in an easy chair in her Chesapeake living room, she sketches, shades and erases over and over again until she has a detailed, lifelike portrait of her subject.
``I like to sit in my cozy chair and work while it's cold outside,'' she said. ``Portraits make me introspective. It's a quiet, individual thing.''
She said she works four to five hours a day when she's doing a commissioned portrait.
Hosegood hopes her portrait work in Chesapeake will catch on and keep her busy throughout the city's winter months.
``We love it here,'' she said. ``We already feel at home here. Chesapeake is a good place for my portrait work to blossom.'' MEMO: More information about Lynn Hosegood's portrait work or her English
landscape work is available by calling 548-4341. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Artist Lynn Hosegood lives part of the year in Devon, England, and
the rest in her new home in Chesapeake.
Photo
A portrait by Lynn Hosegood in her realistic, detailed style.
by CNB