My latest painting is a few days in having made a tentative start, laying in a simple underpainting and then building up from there I am quite pleased at parts of the painting at the moment but have a long way to go.
As an artist I find I am relatively decisive, usually know roughly what I want to do and can be focused towards my goal.....but as a painter I find I am very different, I don't know why there should be a difference, maybe because of the complexity of different techniques and styles and flexibility of medium or maybe it's because of the pressures that come with a long history of painting and expectations of me personally with my own history of painting, I must admit that painting to me is very addictive yet sometimes the thought of picking up a brush can leave me feeling drained, despondent and at times wanting to destroy my brushes and quit for good, then that quicksilver moment comes when something happens, when the years of toil all fade from memory and for a brief moment a small piece of canvas whether from luck or purpose meets the myriad criteria in my head, a part of the ideal that I trudge towards, a glimmer of hope that revitalises my spirit and resolve to continue my search for the holy grail.
What is my destination? the elusive goal that I strive to reach. To be honest I don't know, but the euphoria from just a few square inches of canvas and paint when I do get it right is enough to keep me on this path.
Many people have asked me about my paintings, what they mean, what's my intentions as a painter, are there any messages I'm trying to get across, why paint landscape, what is it all about? To be honest the work is always backed up by contemporary thought and reasoning that underpins and and supports the paintings in the contemporary world, this is a necessity in the modern art world and especially when exhibiting and it is understandable that when creating fine art that you need to justify the integrity and validity of the contemporus value of you and your art. This underlying theory and way of thinking helps shape my work, providing a platform for the work to exist in a fine art setting. But to be perfectly honest, before I start a painting I spend a lot of time researching the subject matter, other artists, reading varied writings, techniques, history, taking photographs and lots of contemplation......but when I start painting this all becomes secondary, it supports me in my purpose which is to apply paint to a canvas and create a surface that visually encapsulates all this underlying stuff, aesthetics take over, not just shape and form but colour and texture and transparency and an intangible feel of the painting, I strive towards creating a surface that has a lusciousness of all these factors, a surface that you just want to touch or get lost in, a surface that asks questions of the viewer, not only in how it was made but what it means, how it makes them feel........I suppose that is the real answer to the questions about my work. I thrive on responding to the materials I use and create little snippets of imagery that tap in everything that I love about life and art and stuff and my purpose, my goal is to create art that allows the viewer to access their own thoughts, experiences and memories through a little bit of surface.
As an artist I find I am relatively decisive, usually know roughly what I want to do and can be focused towards my goal.....but as a painter I find I am very different, I don't know why there should be a difference, maybe because of the complexity of different techniques and styles and flexibility of medium or maybe it's because of the pressures that come with a long history of painting and expectations of me personally with my own history of painting, I must admit that painting to me is very addictive yet sometimes the thought of picking up a brush can leave me feeling drained, despondent and at times wanting to destroy my brushes and quit for good, then that quicksilver moment comes when something happens, when the years of toil all fade from memory and for a brief moment a small piece of canvas whether from luck or purpose meets the myriad criteria in my head, a part of the ideal that I trudge towards, a glimmer of hope that revitalises my spirit and resolve to continue my search for the holy grail.
What is my destination? the elusive goal that I strive to reach. To be honest I don't know, but the euphoria from just a few square inches of canvas and paint when I do get it right is enough to keep me on this path.
Many people have asked me about my paintings, what they mean, what's my intentions as a painter, are there any messages I'm trying to get across, why paint landscape, what is it all about? To be honest the work is always backed up by contemporary thought and reasoning that underpins and and supports the paintings in the contemporary world, this is a necessity in the modern art world and especially when exhibiting and it is understandable that when creating fine art that you need to justify the integrity and validity of the contemporus value of you and your art. This underlying theory and way of thinking helps shape my work, providing a platform for the work to exist in a fine art setting. But to be perfectly honest, before I start a painting I spend a lot of time researching the subject matter, other artists, reading varied writings, techniques, history, taking photographs and lots of contemplation......but when I start painting this all becomes secondary, it supports me in my purpose which is to apply paint to a canvas and create a surface that visually encapsulates all this underlying stuff, aesthetics take over, not just shape and form but colour and texture and transparency and an intangible feel of the painting, I strive towards creating a surface that has a lusciousness of all these factors, a surface that you just want to touch or get lost in, a surface that asks questions of the viewer, not only in how it was made but what it means, how it makes them feel........I suppose that is the real answer to the questions about my work. I thrive on responding to the materials I use and create little snippets of imagery that tap in everything that I love about life and art and stuff and my purpose, my goal is to create art that allows the viewer to access their own thoughts, experiences and memories through a little bit of surface.