Madeleine Tapp | Artist & Educator
I create art to offer an intentional antidote to a busy world, rooted deeply in the concept of biophilia—our innate human connection to the natural world. My work explores how living in and observing the landscape can reduce stress, promote mindfulness, and restore personal well-being.
The Artwork
My practice centers on capturing the quiet calm, atmospheric light, and shifting shapes of the environment. I specialise in:
The Little Lights Series: Small-scale pieces designed as gentle windows of stillness for your home.
Large Landscapes: Expansive, immersive paintings designed so you feel you can truly walk right into them and breathe deeply.
Workshops & Education
As a passionate art teacher, my mission extends beyond my own canvas. I host creative workshops designed to help others connect with nature, explore their own creativity, and experience the calming benefits of making art.
About
Madeleine Tapp is based on the Suffolk/Essex border, surrounded by waterscapes and open landscapes. She noticed the benefits of being in nature particularly through lockdown and realising a long lost desire to paint, joined a few plein air groups in Suffolk and The Dedham Arts Society and began her journey.
Self taught, apart from an Art A’Level and an Art Textiles Degree, she learnt the process by doing. Her work captures the silence of the landscape. In 2022, on putting up her work on her studio walls, she realised how calming and peaceful the pieces where and realised what she had unintentionally been doing. Creating mindful art, if felt like an antidote to a very busy world.
Madeleine started exhibiting through local galleries and Art pop ups. Many remarked on the peacefulness of the work. Madeleine paints in oils, working mainly wet paint into wet. However, in 2025 she found herself drawn to the wild flowers on the pathways, under the trees and hedgerows, while walking her dogs. Drawn to the little lights glinting against the dark earth and began another series of wild fauna. These sold and she started to paint them larger. She has two series, one open landscapes and the other is the Little Lights series. These, she calls her slow paintings.
Living alongside green space, water and flowers have a positive affect on our wellbeing and her work increasingly became about giving the viewer a moment of solitude.
Madeleine has continued her Teaching through tutoring individuals, students and small relaxing group classes. Recently, she became involved in creating some mindful workshops for NHS staff at Colchester Hospital and very much enjoyed the process and the outcome was wonderful.
Please tap the button if you are interested in workshops. We can discuss.
Open Spaces
The Landscape Project
Open Spaces: Bringing Nature Indoors for Mental Restoration
My Open Spaces series brings the restorative power of the great outdoors directly into your built environment. Rooted in the concept of biophilia—the innate human need to connect with nature—these large-scale landscapes serve as intentional, immersive portals to the natural world.
Biophilia & The Built Environment
Modern indoor life often cuts us off from the natural rhythms that keep us grounded. The Open Spaces collection bridges this gap, bringing the psychological benefits of green spaces into your daily living and working areas. By introducing the textures, depth, and expansive horizons of the natural world into built structures, these paintings actively combat "nature deficit," reducing urban stress and fostering a healthier, more balanced indoor sanctuary.
Nervous System Regulation
Expansive horizons and natural vistas have a measurable, therapeutic effect on our biology. Looking into a vast landscape signals to our evolutionary brain that we are safe, free, and unconfined. This visual information shifts the body out of a stressed, sympathetic "fight or flight" state and activates the nervous system, lowering cortisol levels, slowing your heart rate, and inducing a profound physical calm.
An Immersive Space to Breathe
These large-scale paintings are designed to be walked into mentally. The vast depth and open skies create a deliberate pause in your day, inviting your eyes to wander and your mind to settle. It is a visual invitation to practice mindfulness—giving you a dedicated moment to stop, breathe deeply, and escape cognitive fatigue without ever leaving the room.
The Little Lights Project
The Science of Stillness: How Little Lights Regulate the Mind
The Little Lights series is more than a collection of landscapes; it is a visual practice in mental restoration. Rooted in environmental psychology and visual biology, these small-scale pieces harness the power of light & contrast to actively soothe your brain and nervous system.
Nervous System Regulation
Modern environments are filled with harsh, overstimulating light that triggers a subtle "fight or flight" response, causing mental fatigue and restlessness. Little Lights acts as a direct counter-balance. By focusing on gentle, concentrated points of light emerging from deep, atmospheric shadows, these paintings mimic natural dusk and starlight. This specific visual cue signals your nervous system to lower blood pressure, slow the heart rate, and transition your body into a deep state of physical relaxation and safety.
Nostalgia and the Comfort of the "Glow"
Small, warm points of light tap into deep-seated psychological triggers of comfort and safety. The soft, luminous glow in these paintings evokes a powerful sense of emotional nostalgia—reminding the subconscious of cozy interiors, twilight walks, and moments of quiet shelter. This "glow effect" reduces feelings of isolation and fosters an immediate sense of warmth, helping you mentally dim the noise of the outside world and return to a place of inner peace.
An Anchor for an Overstimulated Brain
When your eyes look at a highly contrasted, small light source, it gives the optic nerve a single, quiet place to rest. Instead of darting around, the brain anchors onto the light, instantly releasing dopamine (the "feel-good" chemical) and reducing cognitive overload.
Artist Statement
I capture open land and waterscapes focusing on light and atmosphere, drawing a connection between the calming natural environment and mindfulness. I use traditional techniques en plein air and develop these on large canvases in the studio. My work has a contemporary sensibility.