Ep 271 – Ange Bell

**John Dalton** (0:09)
I'm good. I'm sorry I'm late.

**Ange Bell** (0:11)
That's all right. You have a lot of fun though.

**John Dalton** (0:16)
Well, I am now, but I'm chatting with someone from the UK next week at one o'clock. And in my head, I got the two of them back to front. I was like, oh, I've got plenty of time, it's not till one o'clock, and just cruising around, it's all fine. And I said, I'd just better check. And then it was like literally one minute past the time we were supposed to be there, and I was completely not set up.
I'm amazed I actually got it together as fast as I did.

**Ange Bell** (0:49)
Yeah, I'm impressed then. And you look really cool and calm as well. So you pulled it together.

**John Dalton** (0:56)
Yeah, it's a faqad, I'm like a swan, under the water, my legs are going like the clappers.

**Ange Bell** (1:04)
Isn't that just life though, hey?

**John Dalton** (1:07)
Well, it's my life at the minute.
All right, now, if you're listening, I'm talking to Ange Bell in the UK. It is Ange, it's not Angie.

**Ange Bell** (1:20)
No, it's Ange.

**John Dalton** (1:22)
Ange, yeah. What part of the UK are you in?

**Ange Bell** (1:25)
We moved last summer, so we're in Suffolk, a little place called Hillsworth.

**John Dalton** (1:33)
I don't know the UK that well, but it sounds nice.

**Ange Bell** (1:36)
It is, it's a lovely countryside. We traded in the beach for the countryside, so it's good.

**John Dalton** (1:44)
Where were you before when you were near the beach?

**Ange Bell** (1:48)
We were in Worthing, just on down from Brighton. We've been along the South Coast for years, and we just wanted a bit more space and growing veggies, all that kind of stuff.

**John Dalton** (2:01)
Oh, yeah.
It seems to be quite the art scene down that kind of Brighton, that kind of coast at the moment. Is that right or am I just talking to it?

**Ange Bell** (2:11)
You know what? I was always told it was, but I never really managed to tap into it.
Yeah, so it's yeah, I just I didn't. It didn't kind of work for me. And I think Instagram does what I need. Need an art community to do.

**John Dalton** (2:33)
Yeah, right. But you're you're from Antrim here in Ireland.

**Ange Bell** (2:39)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's right. Just up the road from you.

**John Dalton** (2:44)
Yeah. Long road. I'm down in Kerry. That's a long road. You can't get a longer road actually in Ireland. Can you? Where is Antrim?
Is that?
I can't place it now.

**Ange Bell** (2:57)
That's the one up the top. Can I?

**John Dalton** (2:58)
It is up the top. Yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah, yeah. It's on top of Belfast. Yeah.
Right now, just to give you a time context for our conversation. Today is Wednesday, the 29th of March, 2023
And for someone listening who hasn't seen your work, Ange, how would you describe your paintings?

**Ange Bell** (3:18)
Portraits. Well, for me anyway, it's all about pushing the palette and mark making.
So I hope that they go past just a standard representation of somebody.

**John Dalton** (3:35)
Yes. Yes, I think they do.

**Ange Bell** (3:37)
That work?

**John Dalton** (3:38)
Yeah, that sounds good. And I agree. I think they do.
Okay, so we've had questions come in on social media. This one's from Michael Riddle on Patreon. Thanks for the T, Michael.

**Ange Bell** (3:49)
Yep, T Michael, yep.

**John Dalton** (3:52)
You know Michael, do you?

**Ange Bell** (3:53)
He's a good guy.

**John Dalton** (3:56)
He says, that's brilliant, Ange. He's talking about that you're coming on to have a chat with me.
I'd like to know more about your influences from the past as well as contemporary painters and then in brackets and whether you prefer chocolate cake or chocolate brownies.

**Ange Bell** (4:10)
Well, you should know the answer to the last one. Definitely chocolate brownies.
I don't know. I've got a mixed bag of influences really. I mean, I think the most obvious would be Lucien Freud. But my background was in sculpture. So people like Louise Bourgeois or Anna Maria Pacheco would be more influential even though they're not necessarily painters.
And then, of course, you have, you know, like Rembrandt and Velázquez. You just can't get past those people. And contemporary, God, there's so many people out there at the minute that are just acing it. I mean, Colleen Barry, Zoe Frank. You've had both of those on. They're fantastic.
Maud Madsen, she's a young artist, really fantastic, acing it at the minute. Conor Harrington has always been a favourite. Igor Moritz, there's a whole load of them. I could list you half on Instagram.