Justine Holt is a painter whose work explores antiquarian representations of pottery and household objects. Pattern and colour are primary in her work in which subjects are sourced from her own collection of kitchenware, fabric and fragments of wallpaper. The images have a pared-down aesthetic, conveying a quiet sense of the past by focusing on the still essence of each subject.

Choosing to paint on traditional chalk ground, Justine constructs her own panels and makes her gesso by hand. Preparing the gesso and priming the painting surface is as much a part of the process as the painting itself. Using water-based paints she applies and removes layers of colour to achieve both luminosity and subtle surface qualities, the paintings are worked in a combination of rich and chalky tones. Partnered with her use of pencil lines the apparent simplicity of the work belies the intricacy of the process and the time taken to create each piece.

Justine was born in Reading in 1970. She graduated in Fine Art Painting from Canterbury in 1993 and now lives and works in West Berkshire.