I am a British artist and have worked professionally for over thirty years. Drawing is very important to me, so is good design and colour, all of which are essential when working in batik. My work is mostly figurative and my metier is portraiture, but flowers, creatures and mythical themes also inspire me. I am regularly commissioned to create batik portraits, often with highly personalised, symbolic background settings, which allow great freedom for my imagination and make the portrait process more interesting.
I have always wanted to be a working artist and became interested in batik early in my career. I was captivated by its intensity and greatly inspired by its possibilities. After taking a degree course at Goldsmiths in Textile Art in the eighties, I worked dedicatedly with batik hoping to promote its unique flowing qualities and luminous colour in a world which was at the time dominated by rigid traditions in what qualified as art.
Currently I am painting in oils, a break away from batik, allowing space and time to find new ways of expressing creativity. I will continue to experiment with new techniques and other mediums while not letting go of the vivid qualities that batik has always inspired.
I have come round to thinking that my art is for me and anyone who enjoys it. 

Website: marinaelphick.co.uk
Blog : marinaelphick.com