Amanda Dakin – Contemporary Mixed Media Artist
Exploring movement, memory, and the emotional traces of place through abstract painting.
About Me/My Background
Having lived in 37 homes, across 7 countries and 3 continents, I have experienced constant transition, displacement and the search for belonging. This mobility has profoundly shaped how I see and make art.
Rather than telling fixed stories, my paintings respond to change, capturing the emotional residues left by places and experiences. Early training in textiles and years designing and making rugs continue to influence my approach to texture, rhythm, and colour.
My work tranforms memory and movement into visual language which invites reflection and emotional engagement.
My Painting Process
My process is physical, intuitive and layered. I often work across large surfaces on the studio floor or wall, allowing the body to guide work. Paint, ink, collage and textured materials are applied, removed and reworked over time, creating depth through accumulation rather than pre-planned composition.
Each painting evolves organically reflecting how memory functions, fragmented, layered, and continually shifting.
Tools and techniques include:
Acrylic paint, ink
Collage and textured materials
Gestural mark-making tools
Processes of layering, erasure, and reworking
Collage papers ready for creating the first layers before painting
Contemporary Abstract Paintings
My contemproary abastract paintings explore the space between emotional experience and material expression. They are not representations of specific places, but interpretations of how places are felt and remembered.
Colour, texture and gesture become a language for holding atmosphere, tension and transition. Abstraction allows for ambiguity, reflection, and personal interpretation, inviting viewers to engage slowly, and discover meaning over time.
Collectors & Interiors
My work is collected internationally by private collectors, who value expressive paintings that bring movement, emotional depth and layered presence into interior spaces.
Paintings interact with light, scale and perspective, evolving within their environment.
Collectors are often drawn to my work for:
• Sense of movement and energy
• Layered, atmospheric quality
• Emotional depth and ambiguity
• Ability to complement contemporary interiors
Commissioned Abstract Artwork
I accept a limited number of commissions each year.
Commissions begin with an initial consultation around scale, palette, atmosphere, and placement within a space.
A deposit is required to secure the commission.
From there, I develop a bespoke painting through the same layered and intuitive process as my studio practice.
Commissions
I accept a limited number of commissioned works each year. Commissions begin with an intitial consultation covering scale, palette, atmosphere and placement. A deposit secures the procdss, which follows the same layered, intuitive approach as my studio practice.
Final Note
My Practice centers on contemporary abstract painting as a translation of lived experience and material form. Through movement, layering and intuition, I aim to create work that holds presence and shifts in meaning, depending on how they it is seen and where they it is placed.
“The modern artist is working with space and time and expressing the feelings rather than illustrating.”