At home Q&A with artist Lesley Seeger

At Home with ...artist Lesley Seeger

Describe your home and its style? Eclectic, rustic, arts and crafts. Eighteenth century meets the 21st. I live in a 17th century bargee cottage near Huttons Ambo on the River Derwent. It was originally built for the people who worked on the barges and one of the quirks of living here is that we have no vehicular access so we have got to walk across a neighbouring field with our groceries. One of the benefits is that we have no traffic as firstly there are no roads near our home and also Huttons Ambo is not a ‘‘through’’ village. I collect paintings and interesting objects from artists and craftspeople I admire, many of them from Yorkshire.

I have been called “The president of the non-matching society” and do love things not to match too much. Dinner plates, cups and bowls are all different at our house. Not a random clutter, but a carefully curated one; all beautiful and unique things together. I like mismatching tea and coffee cups for various days and moods and collect them from all over the country. My most recent tea cups are from Anthropologie in London, designed by Jennifer Orkin Lewis.

Tea cups for Anthropologie by Jennifer Orkin Lewis, www.augustwren.com

What is on your interiors wish list? We plan to decorate but I wonder if it will ever happen. I spend so much time painting canvases that I have very little time for painting walls. We also plan to extend the house but that will probably never happen either. My main plan is to de-clutter so that my mis-matching collection of everything has more space to breathe. Beautiful cushions are always on my interiors wish list. I love them so much I have brought out my own range of luxurious cushions printed with details from my paintings. Also, in my opinion, you can never have enough good paintings.

Patchwork Fields by Lesley Seeger

Which household items could you not live without? My peculiar little cupboards that house odd little bits of china. My Moroccan soup bowls, Roger McGough and Philip Larkin poetry and Turkish rug. I also have a wonderful painting by the late Andrea Bailey in my house. The power of the painting of white geese on a blue background lifts the whole room and I am also reminded of her every time I look at it.Which designers do you most admire? I don’t follow any particular designers as I have an innate and strong sense of my own style. I like to follow the artists and makers from York Open Studios andNorth Yorkshire Open Studios and also artists from further afield. Items which are hand crafted have a special quality which give depth and life to any home.

Lesley in her painting overalls. Picture by Lucy Saggers

What is your favourite building? The Cruck house in Hutton Le Hole Folk Museum. It is so cosy and charismatic. I have a fantasy about hiding in there so I can spend the night going back in time and imagining how people lived in medieval times. But that is probably only the good bits.Is there anything exciting you at the moment in terms of design? I am really excited by the paintings I am producing for my residence at The Yorkshire Arboretum. I am taking risks with the way I process what I see so that instead of literal representation, some of the paintings are becoming quite graphic, semi abstract designs.

What and where is your ideal home? I am really very lucky to live in an area of outstanding natural beauty. There is enough inspiration in the Derwent Valley, near Malton, to inspire my paintings for years to come.*Exhibition: The Great North Art Show is at Ripon Cathedral from August 31 to September 22. Entry is free.