Counting down and looking forward

study from the river bank

The shift of season is noticeable all around Linton, the harvesting is over and the fields are being prepared for the new growth. Mornings are heralded with early dog walkers before the back to school/work rush. My routine is darting between waiting for varnishes and edges to dry and sending out pre-publicity for Fernweh exhibiting at Gallery Above from 15 September, and impatient to start a new body of work. The lessons learnt in preparing for the exhibition have increased the momentum for a new body of work.

It seems to be a similar routine in many of my colleagues studios with a chance of pace and a new sense of creative purpose.

The paintings are an emotive response to my experiencing the landscape, where both the memories and the landscape are subject to “weathering over time”.

Each piece has evolved through an intuitive painting process comparable to improvisation – each gestural mark or colour choice demands a reaction which leads to the next choice of colour or mark.  Photographs, sketches, and souvenirs gathered on walks, hold the memory of a place, and initiate the work in my studio.

 The process of painting is solving a puzzle but what the puzzle is, is not always clear to me.