Showcase: Penny Davenport 

Liverpool-based artist Penny Davenport makes drawings of characters and scenes.

“I always struggle with the explanation that is required and expected when justifying my work, or enabling a better understanding of what I do. Unless you are a writer, and have a fine fluid way, words can pin you down and make you withdrawn. I feel it is important to say this. Part of what I do and the reason I do it is because it is non-verbal expression and communication.

“The drawings I make are never planned or sketched. I find that whenever I have attempted to plan a drawing it becomes stiff and it seems I need to slip into a sort of trance, to feel removed, transported and completely detached in order to do it.

“Play is very important. I used to draw constantly when I was little, and that feeling of being completely immersed was lost over time until I started to draw again purely for me, not for a university, a grade or a tutor, just for me. This state of immersion is what I depend on. Play, and the panic that’s induced from mistakes that seem unrecoverable get me excited.

“Dualism is something that I find very interesting; the dualistic conceptions of nature, hot and cold, good and evil, and so on. Subconsciously collected imagery, regurgitation; I suppose playing with your own mental vomit until you feel satisfied.

“I think (going off track here) revealing what you do for the cold judgment or joy of others is a funny business in itself. I hopefully will try to publish some stories that would accompany the drawings. I have some stories that exist but are locked away. This locking away can become a problem. I think there is a danger sometimes that marketing skills can often seem more important than the art, which is a harsh blow to the shy reclusive sort who recoils from networking or feels vulgar or unsettled when speaking of money and sales.”