Fading Breath

Felicity Talman

In 2024 Felicity Talman participated in the Pastel Society 125th Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in January/February 2024. In November, she was awarded the Artist Support Pledge Scholarship by Contemporary Art Academy to participate in their Personal Practice course with Matthew Collins. Felicity had two pieces of work accepted into the Pastel Society 126th Annual Exhibition, which opens on the 22nd of January 2025 at the Mall Galleries, London. 

Felicity Talman’s work embodies a deep connection between nature and the human experience, drawing on her personal surroundings to create pieces that resonate with a sense of place and time. Working from a conservatory studio that opens onto a lush, ever-changing garden, Talman finds inspiration in the overlooked beauty of decaying or dried plants. Her practice is anchored in the tactile immediacy of soft pastels, a medium that mirrors the organic qualities of her subjects. The pigments and clay binder she uses form a natural link to the earth, while the dust produced in the process recalls the delicate presence of pollen—a fitting parallel to the fragility of her chosen forms.

Talman’s exploration of control—both its application and its surrender—is central to her artistic process. Like a gardener who shapes the land through planting and pruning, she carefully composes her works over time, capturing suspended moments that reveal nature’s constant evolution. Yet, her work also embraces the uncontrollable forces of nature, reflecting the unpredictability and transience of life itself.

In her pieces, Talman invites viewers to pause and consider the beauty of what is often unseen—the cycles of life and decay. Her work challenges traditional notions of the garden as a purely cultivated, controlled space by exploring themes of deterioration and change. These reflections, influenced by her rural surroundings and life on a smallholding, provide a contemplative space for viewers to engage with the natural world’s quieter, often overlooked transformations. Her art is a dialogue with nature, revealing the complex, delicate interplay between vitality and fragility