Summer Davis

BA Art and Design

Serotonin – Urban Encounters

This project investigates the question of why the combination of sunlight, warm weather, and greenspaces improves our mental well-being and increases our serotonin levels. My work explores the effects nature has within cities by creating expressive large landscape paintings inspired by personal photography taken from cities such as Leeds, Liverpool, and Barcelona. I want to understand the daily interactions of green spaces with man-made structures within urban settings, looking specifically at the landscapes of cities within the warmer months of the year to demonstrate the strong contrast of light on nature in urban spaces. The relationship between drawing and painting has been an important aspect of this project, questioning what a drawing is. I have explored the perspectives of urban landscapes in different places. The use of perspective, space, and colour within my paintings gives an immersive experience to the viewers, showing the ways nature and sunlight come together within urban spaces to improve people’s mental health effectively. The use of space has been a very important aspect of my work, using bold blocks of colours and a layering effect in my paintings. Influences to my visual approach have been contemporary and historical painters concerned with landscape in the built environment..