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I actually looked at my painting in progress. Eyes stopped flitting, mind stopped on overdrive. Eyes sloooowed. I looked, that’s it. The textures, colours, edges of shapes, layers of paint, energy on the surface. I opened myself up to what was right in front of me the whole time. My feet stopped floating and I…… Continue reading I actually looked

I have been thinking a lot recently about community and morality. These are two very serious words! They conflict with my urban, displaced and twenty-something stage in life typically associated with the flighty, frivolous and selfish years. I read this book a few months ago: Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times by Johnathon…… Continue reading Johnathon Sacks and community

I painted this kind of theatre set – the two trees, the bush, the sky, the red blob of inside the kitchen. It’s a scene I did from memory in Devon in Spring earlier this year: Then I put so many layers of glaze over the whole thing. Pushing back these shapes, some parts more…… Continue reading The Devon two trees painting progress

As an artist, I think a lot about what I’m going to do; the actions I will take on materials. But what about where these materials, where I, am coming from? This is a change of perspective which shifts from thinking about the future to thinking about the past. Rather than considering ‘how will I…… Continue reading The past and the future in the act of making

I’ve been working on this for 4 sittings spread over 7 days, which doesn’t seem that long really! I’m kind of struggling to know what to do with it next. It turns out not spacially orienting myself in the world of the painting before I start putting colour down leads down a winding, unclear, frustrating…… Continue reading A painting in progress

I don’t think I’ve ever painted using a square surface before, and never for a plein air painting. I decided to use a tiny square board for a study quite randomly, and the results are interesting. As soon as I started painting in the spot I had picked, my focus was on describing visceral and…… Continue reading Painting a square study

I’ve done two small plein airs in my family’s garden, a place which I have intense memories in. I would spend 2 weeks here every summer as a child and then one week around christmas/new year. So although I haven’t spent lots and lots of time here, I have strong memories of those holidays; saturated…… Continue reading Two new plein air paintings in a memory filled garden

If I look at the landscape paintings I am doing, there are ‘subplots’ happening which the width of the painting allows for. Subplot means ‘a subordinate plot in a play, novel or similar work’. When discussing a painting I think the word can be applied. In this context subplots are narratives, things going on -…… Continue reading Subplots and animacy within a new painting

How can a painting be attached / detached from place? place | pleɪs | noun1 a particular position, point, or area in space; a location…2 a portion of space designated or available for or being used by someone: they hurried to their places at the table | Jackie had saved her a place. • a vacancy or available position…• the role played by or importance attached to someone or something in a particular context: the place of computers in improving office efficiency….3 a position in a sequence or series, typically one ordered on the basis of merit: his score left him in ninth place.Apple Dictionary I feel this is what I…… Continue reading New painting