My workplace and methods...

MY PAINTING JOURNEY...using oils or acrylics 

I love working with paint and the process of moving it around to make marks gives me enormous pleasure.   My canvases or panels are the main supports but I also work with paper.    These works become 'friends' and I keep them around me in my home.     

The painting emerges from making intuitive shapes and one shape can inspire the forming of another.  I aim for rich evocative surfaces made by layers of paint to bring a glow and depth to the painting.   Some pieces are excavated in parts with scraping tools to reveal the under painting, then finished with glazes of transparent paint.    The work can go on a journey over days, weeks or even years as I will often return to a piece to rework it.  The process of destruction is part of making something new and creating a painting journey.   

I focus on a 'sense of place' which might be an element of nature or even a place in my mind...drawing from personal feelings old and new before or during the painting process.   I am not afraid to add my feelings to the canvas and some work can have a dark side.

'Behind every Shadow' below, is a painting reflecting on hurt and recovery.  

 

PAINTING COMPANIONS...

A painting is also about colour or non-colour.   In my work, part of the fun is making colour combinations.    I found a mix of greys using the colours on the palette was a gentle companion to the lighter, brighter hues in this painting below.    The larger area of blue/grey makes the small brighter hues of blue and yellow sing for attention and the buff/grey adds warmth to an otherwise cool work.   Grey is a wonderful addition to a piece of work.
 'Turquoise trails' is a favourite piece.

 

'Turquoise trails of timeless flow'

Some of my paintings might be described as 'narrative abstractions'...🎨

For a long time I have found it difficult to answer the question...."oh you paint pictures, what sort?"

I don't paint pretty pictures and I am not a realist painter.   My paintings do tell a story so narrative would fit and they leave a lot to the viewer's imagination so 'narrative abstractions' will do.

 

The painting below is titled 'Fool's Paradise'.   It is made with acrylics on a 30 x 20 inch canvas.