Head in Gray oil 025

Product description

The way I work is very much to do with the way in which things feel and also very much to do with what I experience emotionally. I pursue a visual language of expression that translates and works for the subject.

A painting usually begins for me by working from sketches and possibly a photograph, watercolour sketches are also produced. These sketches or painted colour studies are produced on location and give a sense of intimacy and immediacy. So, when I actually come to making a start on a painting back in my studio these drawings are a reference point from which to start.

During the process of painting which is done quickly I encounter a number of accidents which are used or discarded. If accidents are used then they must work together with the controlled application of paint and not left because they look good.

The painting will go through various changes before it reaches a conclusion, even destroying the whole work and beginning again sometimes can be helpful but takes courage.

My intentions are to make a painting where the paint is just as significant as the subject with regards to marks and the ‘feel’, working out these complexities between subject, chance, marks and control is the challenge in each painting.