Jacqui Phillips is primarily a portrait painter; she enjoys working on a large scale as it enables her to be freer in her expressive use of vast pallet knife strokes. She relishes the dichotomy between the close-up view of the painting and the viewer’s impression from further away; what looks like patterns and marks at close quarters transforms into a textured and spirited portrait from a retreated position. Jacqui’s uses a unique and interesting method to depict the quality of human flesh, contrasting thick applications of paint to fine glazed washes, and vibrant fauvist colours with planer pale areas, creating an intense depth to her work.
Jacqui tends to paint at a fast pace, the excitement and spontaneity of her brush work provides her paintings with an electric feeling of life. Jacqui captures the multifaceted character of her sitter in a tangible way, contrasting vast and mottled swathes of thick colour with delicately painted, watery eyes, Jacqui depicts the almost mask-like effect of an aging face. Jacqui feels she grows and evolves as an artist with every new piece she creates, she has become fascinated by the theory and anatomical processes that purvey themselves through the skin; it is almost as though there is a difference between the physical and the spiritual—the eyes betraying an ethereal soul beneath a weathered, outer facade.