An unexpected trip down memory lane

Interview with Annabel Hocking

Author

Emily
March 01, 2025

I wasn’t very familiar with Annabel Hocking’s work before we sat down for our conversation. We met at the Art and Grind cafe in Guildford, where she was participating in the December Surrey Artist Open Studios in collaboration with the cafe.

What first struck me about Annabel’s work was her bold and consistent colour palette, combined with what I would describe as a maximalist style. Her pieces, displayed together, had a striking presence.

They balance strength and dominance with a subtle calmness, thanks to the complementary hues she favours. I could easily imagine one of her paintings holding its own within a room’s decor while also blending harmoniously with its surroundings.

Alongside her large-scale semi-abstract landscapes, Annabel also creates smaller ink and watercolour works. These have a more obvious illustrative style, yet when viewed together, her signature aesthetic is unmistakable across both mediums.

The threads of her vision are clearly woven throughout her body of work, uniting the different scales and techniques she employs. Annabel draws inspiration from Windsor Great Park and Virginia Water, as well as trips further afield. She shared her sketches and captured moments from her recent trip to Japan, where she found inspiration in the landscapes and natural elements. The stylistic influence of these travels can also be seen in her work.

Through our conversation and a deep dive into her sketches and Instagram feed, I could see how she aims to immerse herself fully in nature—and to bring that same experience to her audience. Her work has a distinct ‘boots-on-the-ground’ perspective, a conscious choice that places the viewer within the landscape rather than observing it from afar.

As we discussed this immersive approach, I found myself looking at one of her paintings, Virginia Water Lake.

Something about it felt strangely familiar.

We talked about how she often uses foliage, such as bamboo, as a framing element within her work. I mentioned that it reminded me of a scene from a film—a character moving through tall grasses or jungle leaves before parting the foliage to reveal a lake or watering hole.

The memory lingered at the back of my mind for weeks afterward. Though I never pinpointed the exact film, I became convinced it was The Jungle Book. This led me down a nostalgic rabbit hole, watching clips from the 1967 film, which I was obsessed with as a child. Rewatching it as an adult, I noted the colour palette and framing techniques, and suddenly, I understood why Annabel’s work resonated with me in a subconscious, nostalgic way.

The Jungle Book, Disney

The Jungle Book, Disney

The Jungle Book, Disney

This is what I find so fascinating about art.

Learning about an artist and their inspirations is always interesting, but the unexpected personal connections are what captivate me most. Art has a way of sparking tangents and uncovering forgotten memories. With Annabel, it led me back to a childhood favourite; with another artist, Ruth Taylor (article coming soon), it introduced me to geology and ancient civilisations—a topic I wouldn’t naturally gravitate towards, but one that art helped me explore with curiosity and interest.

Another environment where I find that same sense of immersion is in glasshouses. Surrounded by lush greenery, I feel transported to another world—a sensation I also get from Annabel’s work.

She describes her paintings as being created from memory, capturing the essence of a place rather than a literal representation. While some artists portray landscapes from a more observational standpoint, what I love about Annabel’s work is the feeling of being inside the scene.

Her large-scale pieces, with their dense compositions and minimal negative space, create an almost 360-degree experience of being enveloped in nature.

Annabel shared how she had studied architecture before making the decision to pursue art full-time. I was quite surprised to learn this, as her work has such a loose, organic feel, and when I think of the skill set required for architecture, I picture precision, mathematics, and a strong sense of control. She explained that while her creative process is fluid and intuitive, her analytical mindset naturally comes into play in the later stages of her work.

She enjoys engaging her structured, methodical side when it comes to exhibition design—this is where her scaled ruler makes an appearance, alongside the careful framing of her work. However, once I learned this about Annabel, I began to pick up on some of the structural elements within her paintings—deliberate compositions, balanced framing, and subtle geometric influences—all of which are integral parts of her signature style.

Annabel’s ability to blend immersion with structure, spontaneity with precision, makes her work truly unique. Through our conversation, I gained not only an appreciation for her artistic process but also an unexpected reconnection with my own past. It’s moments like these that remind me why I love engaging with artists—their work has the power to transport, inspire, and, sometimes, unexpectedly take us back to a cherished memory. The ability of art to weave together past and present, personal nostalgia and universal experience, is something truly special, and Annabel’s work encapsulates this beautifully.