Hello
I have always appreciated colour.
When graduating from Dundee University in 1999 I felt compelled to continue to explore form and colour created by light.
Strong colour, technique, medium and often symbolism make my work somewhat allegorical in nature - rather like the "rebus" approach to simultaneously conveying and concealing meaning. It is these influences, rather than any conscious reference, which drive the sometimes "naive" aspects of my current work.
My Story
I was born in south-west London where I have lived most of my life. Having some Scottish blood and wanting to go a little farther afield, I left the area after school (and a gap year) and went to Duncan of Jordanstone Art School in Dundee.
Here I was introduced to the Scottish colourists who had spent time in France where they were influenced by, in my opinion, some of the greatest artists of all time, les Fauves (the Wild Beasts).
The strong colours and avant-garde techniques of this group of early twentieth- century artists, replacing the older, more traditional methods of perception, captured the imagination of the Scottish colourists, such as Fergusson, Cadell, Peploe and Hunter and were passed down to students such as myself. They developed what is sometimes called the ‘logic of line’, a liberated form of brushwork that flouts the notion that lines must be precise, and it can be left to the viewer to visualise them in a painting.
These early 20th century artists found their European contemporise, Cezanne, the Fauves, Van Gogh, Vuillard with their bold colours and unconventional perspectives had in many ways been inspired by the colour and craftsmanship of Japanese wood cuts. Exploring technique and colour, with a similar assiduousness to that of Charles McIntosh, were paramount measures to the direction art was going in at this time.
The time spent preparing a canvas feels like an important meditative time to let ideas flow and allow me to relax before I start painting. I often start a painting with some fluid acrylic which must dry before painting the composition in oil. Working on mixing colours and matching them in a still life setting is again a mediative process. There’s also something liberating about working on something large. When you are up close and putting in the details, you can’t see the edges, borders, boundaries and your lost in something where there are none.
I have a heightened sense of emotion as I come towards the end of a painting, feeling happy I am completing something while at the same time reluctant to be leaving it. The bold large gestures become smaller and smaller. Am I refining what I have done or merely pushing off saying farewell to something that has become a part of me?