A painter’s plea
observe take in explore interpret…
the paint, the marks, the interaction of colour next to another, the boldness of a shape, the weakness of another, please.
This art of mine is not 2 dimensional in any way
it deserves your time, your interaction.
This is no momentary fling with paint, it absorbs me, it defines a part of me.
Give it time to breathe in your presence.
Playing around and evolving the bigger meaning of Portrait is an ongoing journey in my work, and I was totally stimulated by the Howard Hodgkin exhibition Absent Friends at The National Gallery, all abstract paintings in response to specific people from his life.
I would rather be unpeeled, represented as an entity of non-human form as a true portrait of myself…it’s a leap of faith and understanding but crucial in gathering an essence of the true self – I will see what unfolds over the coming months and years.
She is a beautiful woman whose calmness I was keen to capture.
As the sittings unfolded, there were three two-hour portrait sittings, I wanted to wrap a narrative around her, a wisdom, a relation to the land and a waterfall. I had encouraged her to wear a white skirted dress which created almost wave like shapes. The base of the painting remains quite fluid and suggestive, which crashes against the diagonal of her descending braided hair. Where she stops and starts is intended to be ambiguous. A theme current in my “Falling Series”; where do we dissolve into the landscape to reappear again?
If you would like to discuss a portrait commission, please contact me here.
Myself and dance artist Marie Louise Flexen have collaborated on many pieces exploring movement this year, with a recent performance as part of the Stroud Open Studios. We carried out several enquiries into the creative language we explore in dance and art. In one piece we explore line and enter into each other’s spaces. The connection is exciting. A video will be coming shortly.
