artist printmaker
#tableauxofdreams – exploring other avenues
This is one of my very long-term projects which is far from being completed, as I have not yet understood sufficiently what it is about. I have completed over 100 drawings with an accompanying 10,000-word text.
I do not feel any compunction to force it to a conclusion because, as with all my projects, it will be done when it is done.
#curatedspaces – broad canvass
It is never easy to pin down what is quintessential to our character, but it is safe to say the English love to garden and in a singular style defined by history, climate and scale. Our garden is small in scale but filled with a wide variety of plants chosen for interest throughout the year.
There is a long tradition of artists being inspired by their gardens and in 2016 the Royal Academy of Arts put on an exhibition entitled Painting the modern garden – Monet to Matisse which was the inspiration behind this series of paintings.
Oil sketch of a laburnum tree cascading over lilac [Cat: 0332, Laburnum, 16 x 20″ / 40 x 50 cm, Oil paint on canvass board, 2015]
#Cul-De-Sac – no way out
There are certain scenes and situations that affect us in strange ways, whether it is a feeling of déjà vu or something comforting, or perhaps we are aware of a strange sensation but are unaware of the reason behind it.
Several years ago, while staying at a run-down pension in Mons – an ancient hilltop town in the south of France, way off the beaten track – I became fascinated by this scene. The pot plant blocks off access to a short flight of stairs that lead only to a disused and locked door, creating a sense of mystery, and the adjacent chair suggests that a guard or custodian has temporarily vacated their station.
A perfectly placed pot plant and chair [Cat: 0571, Chair at the top of the stairs, 20 x 24″ / 50 x 60 cm, Oil paint on canvas board, 2013]
#allthatglitters – dreams of fortunes
With dreams of fortunes and fool’s gold, dynamic crystalline geometries both reflective and translucent, rocks provide a fascinating subject to study. Holding a piece of rock is akin to holding the earth’s history in your hands, and it can be imagined as a whole mountain range in miniature. I find it very difficult to describe rocks visually. They hold a fascination for me, and I regularly seek out examples of other artists’ work for inspiration.
#solesurvivors – exploring isolation
A single tree silhouetted on the skyline is a trope of loneliness, but that does not diminish the power of such an image as a single tree is the sole survivor of a onetime forest. Trees do not grow in isolation; they are social beings that benefit from being in numbers, and we mammals have a close association and long-standing interdependence with them, as it was their early presence on the planet that exchanged the carbon-filled atmosphere for life-giving oxygen.
It is this close relationship that I like to explore in my studies of trees, bark, leaves and forests.
#relicsandreliquaries -certainty of power
Otherwise unremarkable objects, a nail, a splinter of wood or a square of linen are imbued with the power to heal and mend broken lives by faith and their sumptuous presentation. There is an irony between the mundanity of the object, a nail, and the gold, emeralds, pearls and rubies that surround it, suggesting the uncertainty of power.
I think I can use this ‘objective irony’ to good effect in an artwork.
#betweenworlds – ascending and descending
The geometry of stairs in all their fascinating varieties – sharp and steep leading down to a cellar or sweeping upwards to a grand hall – always provides a tantalising prelude to what is hidden from view. They are still, silent, inanimate, yet hold the possibility of suspense and surprise.
In my latest works I have added people to the scenes to see how they react to this intriguing environment.
#weatheredlandscape – elemental sculpture
Coastal regions where gales often lash the landscape have a character of their own, and one particular favourite is the Pas de Calais where the trees that have survived have bent to the prevailing winds. Trying to capture this landscape without taming it provides an intriguing challenge.
