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https://youtu.be/H5o8qzsuF5o

Hedgerows and grassy verges make perfect nesting habitats for birds, intersects and small mammals, safe, hidden and protected. It is these very qualities that sparks my interest. Whether it’s grasses, hedging, brambles or a mixture of all of them they weave a fascinating pattern with great depth and complexity while leaving enough room for life to flourish.

A suitable jumping off point for ideas to form as part of my abstract landscapes study, this print series takes the hedgerow into the world of abstraction.

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/gGjpki3H4wY
I have chosen a fairly limited pallet for these paintings, nothing too light or dark. This helps harmonise the paintings when they are all seen all together as a set. I find it helpful to mix enough of a single colour to paint all the areas that share that colour across the set, this also helps with consistency, allowing me to add additional details at a later stage.

 

 

 

 

I use a combination of mediums when creating these paintings, the main one being acrylic ink, which used in this way is similar to working with watercolour. The advantage for me is that once the ink is dry you can work over it and it will not blend with the colour below, for example when painting these leaves I can put the lighter colour under and the darker on top.

 

 

 

In my ‘Man of Sorrows’ series of paintings and etchings, the association with traditional ways of depicting the crucifixion is evident but it is also a jumping off point, I have borrowed images and ideas from ancient Greece, Sumaira and Mesopotamia. My hope is that they take on new meaning and provide a different interpretation.

 

 

 

 

This new series of paintings and etchings has it origin in a group of medieval paintings depicting the instruments and objects associated with the crucifixion, some are direct depictions from the paintings while in others I have added and combined additional iconography surrounding the passion.

 

 

 

The paintings and etchings in this series have visual similarities but the techniques and mediums I have used produce vastly different results. Here for example the painting leaves more room for speculation of the outcome whereas the same scene in the etching has a finality about it.

 

 

 

Having isolated these frequently used depictions of the objects associated with the crucifixion, I have changed their meaning and context. Here for example I have used the nails to evoke growth and mixed in elements Hellenist mythology, Zeus providing the impetus for re-birth.

 

 

 

 

‘Man of Sorrows’ attempts to transform the depiction of instruments and objects associated with the crucifixion which are frequently found in classical paintings, into icons that can exist outside this context and be used in different ways.

 

 

 

 

Nothing can be more metaphysical than rock, the very foundation of the planet we occupy. Often rocks go unnoticed beneath our feet and our knowledge of them is limited, but for an artist they hold endless fascination in their variety. The range is vast; from the very hardest through to the softest soap stones, so easily sculpted; from the jagged edges of granite to the smooth contours of sandstone, there is so much for the artist to explore.

Nothing can be more metaphysical than rock, the very foundation of the planet we occupy. Often rocks go unnoticed beneath our feet and our knowledge of them is limited, but for an artist they hold endless fascination in their variety. The range is vast; from the very hardest through to the softest soap stones, so easily sculpted; from the jagged edges of granite to the smooth contours of sandstone, there is so much for the artist to explore.