Ruth Waterman – violinist

As a solo violinist, Ruth Waterman has performed internationally for many years, from London’s Proms to New York’s ‘Great Performers at Lincoln Center’. She is also well-known as a broadcaster, conductor, speaker, and educator. Her work in post-war Bosnia, conducting the Mostar Sinfonietta, led her to write a book, When Swan Lake Comes to Sarajevo, which was chosen as a Book-of-the-Year of The Observer. Although she has enjoyed painting for a long time while taking art classes at CityLit and the Slade, it wasn’t until a few years ago that she let herself spend serious time with paint. She has since had two solo exhibitions.

What has creating art meant to you over the last year?

Painting is no substitute for performing Bach and Beethoven, but it has greatly helped to keep my head above water during these times of coronavirus. During the winter months, when the trees were shorn of their leaves, I took to taking photographs of their trunks. Without the distraction of their summer finery, my eye was caught by the huge variety and intricacy of their barks. Some of the photographs look like paintings, and some of the paintings that followed evolved into other things entirely, eventually distilling into abstracts.