Her work is inspired by the dynamic nature of music, atmosphere and people. Using vibrant, warm colours, she aims to evoke emotion - to transport the viewer somewhere and make them feel calm, excited or nostalgic.

Exploring themes including jazz music, dance, relationships and sentiments, and each painting is created to emulate a specific mood.

Based in Northumberland, She has been selling her work for the past 11 years, whilst living in Liverpool from 2021 - 2024, she became increasingly interested in the atmosphere of city life, particularly in jazz bars and pubs, and often would sit in a corner, observing and sketching. Some of her paintings began as one of those sketches, and others from a line of poetry, or a piece of music – inspiration strikes anywhere and everywhere, and she finds humanity constantly intriguing.

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"I’ve always been inspired by moments in film and TV where the atmosphere creates the mood of the scene - be that a dusty bookshop, a 1940s jazz club or beautiful spring forest. When I reached a point in my artistic experimentation of paying attention to that interest, I realised it was all to do with the lighting. The type, the position and the wonderful contrast that light can create is what would transform a normal place into something magical. 

 

I also find people very interesting. Each person is unique and each relationship is too, which makes for almost infinite stories and situations. However what I realised when I started painting them was that however unique they are, there are always others that can relate. I don’t paint the faces of my people, and I don’t explicitly describe the story - because each viewer interprets them differently. Ten people might all relate to a painting, but they see ten different stories, because they all have a slightly different perspective on life."

Roisin Lyst - February 2026