About Me
Experience Fine Art By Lisa
Lisa Srao is a British contemporary abstract artist based in Yorkshire, working with oil, acrylic, ink, and mixed media. Her practice explores emotion, spirituality, landscape, and identity through intuitive mark-making, rich texture, and layered surfaces. Painting functions as both meditation and self-inquiry — a process of stripping back external noise to access instinct, curiosity, and inner stillness.
Before committing to art full time, Srao held senior roles in International Marketing and was an award-winning brand developer, shaping global visual identities and leading creative strategy at an international level. This background continues to inform her sensitivity to composition, visual language, and narrative, while allowing the work itself to remain non-prescriptive.
Srao achieved Grade A at both GCSE and A Level in Art and Design, forming a strong technical foundation that underpins her practice. Influenced by her Indian heritage and her upbringing in Yorkshire, her paintings reflect a meeting of cultures, landscapes, and emotional states. Her abstract works are intentionally open-ended, inviting the viewer to project their own meanings, memories, and interpretations — allowing each painting to become a personal and subjective experience.
Each painting becomes a space to enter, rather than an image to be explained.
My Oil Painting Techniques
I have been working with oil paint since the age of sixteen, learning through both discipline and experiment. Like many painters, my early relationship with oils involved trial, error, and a fair number of mishaps — particularly in understanding the chemistry of layering. Early on, I learned first-hand the consequences of using Liquin beneath turpentine rather than adhering to the correct fat-over-lean principles, experiences that ultimately deepened my technical understanding of the medium.
My approach to oil painting today balances traditional technique with intuitive expression. While I am informed by classical oil methods — where paintings are built gradually through considered layers — I often work wet-on-wet, allowing colours to merge, move, and breathe directly on the surface. This method gives the work its sense of flow and immediacy, enabling expressive mark-making and emotional responsiveness within the painting process.
Surface and materials are integral to my practice. I work on high-quality cotton and linen canvases, carefully chosen for their durability and responsiveness to oil paint. I use professional-grade materials, including paints from Winsor & Newton and Pebeo, selecting pigments and mediums that support both structural integrity and expressive freedom.
Whether building subtle atmospheric depth in skies, coastlines, or abstracted landscapes, my oil paintings embrace a dialogue between control and release — respecting the technical demands of the medium while allowing instinct and movement to guide the final work.
Acrylic, Ink & Mixed Media Process
My abstract paintings often combine acrylic paint, acrylic ink, alcohol ink, and texture paste to build mood, movement, and surface complexity. These materials allow me to develop intuitive mark-making while maintaining a strong physical relationship with the painting. Acrylic is central to my practice due to its versatility and fast drying time, enabling immediate decision-making and sustained engagement with the work.
I often work through a layered, time-based process. The canvas is first prepared with gesso, followed by the application of texture paste to create relief and structure. This base layer is left to dry overnight. On the following day, I introduce acrylic and alcohol inks, allowing them to flow organically across the textured surface. These layers are again left to dry, allowing the marks and movements to settle naturally.
Once the groundwork has fully developed, I return to the painting to respond to what has emerged — working into the surface with acrylic paint to define landscapes, atmospheres, and abstracted scenes. While this is a slower, more deliberate process, the extended drying times and natural flow of the materials allow the work to evolve intuitively. The result is a richly layered surface where texture, mood, and movement are inseparable.
Framing
Most paintings are shipped without frames. However, where shown, paintings are priced to include framing using high-quality materials, selected only where they enhance the artwork. Alternative framing options can be discussed to suit individual preferences and settings.
I also offer works on deep-edge, professionally stretched canvases, suitable for hanging unframed. Canvas edges are typically left white, with optional finishes available.
Glass is not generally recommended for oil paintings.