Southsea artist holds exhibition for maritime themed artwork
Southsea Cinema & Arts Centre in Palmerston Road has been transformed into a vibrant art exhibition by a local artist.
Maria Mullis, creator of Lotsolove, creates sparkling art pieces inspired by different tattoos typically received by sailors.
‘It’s all maritime themed,’ said Maria, ‘I looked at the maritime history of tattoos, and found out about the sailors and the relevance of why they have the tattoos.
‘Like the swallows, for every 5000 nautical miles they travel, they could get a swallow. The knuckles with “hold fast”, that’s about holding onto the rigging.
‘I wanted to explore ink where it’s so dark blue or black, and change it. So still keeping with the symbolism, but changing it to vibrancy, glitter, colour and a bit of joy.’
As well as the current nautical theme, the use of glitter and colour has always been central to Maria’s artwork in her over 25 years of experience.
Maria said: ‘Everything I did [at university] was all glittery and sparkly.’
This exhibition also marked a departure from Maria’s previous style of work, which was mainly themed around hearts.
Maria added: ‘This is my first exhibition of this type of work. This is the first time I’ve moved away from completely just being hearts. But it still had a glittery, sparkly theme.’