Artists Statement

One of the hallmarks of my painting is a feeling of nature - perhaps no surprise after spending many years painting landscapes en plein air.

Gradually though, I evolved towards a studio based approach of non objective painting exploring the dance between spontaneous mark making and pictorial structure. Having moved away from landscape painting I assumed the work was on a different track altogether - until one morning I noticed that the painting on the easel had similarities to the view through the window - bare winter trees - branches like scribbles etched against a pale sky echoed in the scribbles of the painting. It was a moment of clarity - realising that the landscapes observed so closely before whilst painting and in which I live - are deeply embedded in and somehow form part of my inner world - or ‘inscape’ - mixing with everything else in there that makes an individual.

I realised that a spontaneous and improvisatory approach to painting enabled the  ‘inscape’ to emerge largely unconsciously through gestural marks and is given coherence when held in a pictorial structure - which is also found or evolved  rather than predetermined. Its an exciting way to paint - following the painting to an unplanned, unimagined and entirely new expression and destination.

I imagine this approach to painting as being analogous to the cycles and processes of nature ; constantly in flux - elements being created and destroyed simultaneously; a change in one part of the canvas requiring a balancing adjustment elsewhere, and, many layers of activity hidden or revealed by washes or scratching not unlike rock formations revealing the incidents of time.

The language of painting comprises dynamic elements  (rhythm, colour, line, shapes, contrasts and variety) which communicate not only between themselves on the painted surface but also directly from and to the heart - bypassing words and intellect by creating an energetic situation that can be recognised, felt and shared by others - revealing something to us of what it is to be alive in the world.