Although Lisa Langan's still life paintings of food, plates and cutlery might seem to depict a rather ordinary mealtime scene, they're primarily about relationships. "The relationship with myself and/or others, with underlying stories," explains the artist. "They are autobiographical where I have situated myself invisibly in the foreground of a tabletop. The onlooking viewers can also find themselves standing in the same place, confronted by each scenario, they know nothing about."

With such a deeper meaning, these paintings consist of captured moments, transferred personal reflections, conveyed with humour and sometimes darker underlying tones.

"Art, in many forms, has always been a part of my life," Lisa continues, "but painting has consistently acted like a form of therapy for me. In the words of artist Emily Garce ‘Negative images can be easier to filter than negative words’. In my still life work, I found this was really the case. Adverse emotions were transformed after much paint application. Choosing specific items that spoke about a personal situation, putting feeling and thought into each scenario and reliving the moment as I painted, all assisted in creating the ‘final piece’ and, without doubt, always dissolved any somewhat preceding negative emotions."

In some of her still life work, Lisa touched on lighter issues, like childhood memories in ‘Avondale advocates’ for example, and ‘Eleventh hour’ is a formulated synopsis on the passing of her father, "whereby I am informed of this, his final days, by letter from him, giving us both time to say Goodbye."

The Landing: Lisa Langan will be exhibited at The Atkinson in Southport from 10 February until 1 April 2018. To find out more about the artist, visit lisawalshlangan.com.