The majority of paintings
shown on these pages were all done over an intense period
of involvement in the mid eighties. It was at this time
in 1985 that I had an exhibition in
the Mountbattan Gallery in Portsmouth.This exhibition
consisted of some eighty-five paintings and oil crayon
sketches. I put
everything in, many of which I would not show now out of
context with their origins.
Others (reworked), I have worked on to the point
of transforming them, over a long
period of time.
These also developed into my using the frame as an
integral part of the image, with
the canvas stretched to form curved surfaces, (Born
Again, Not one - Not other).
This in turn led to my doing painted wall hanging
sculptures, (Green Man, Angel).
I used to think of my paintings as form on which to
hang colour. In only two have I
used an existing image as reference, the portrait of my
father, and that of the child in
'War and Peace' (others). I wanted my images to
be totally the expression of an
idea, or the result of process.
Doing this developed my idea of the 'happy accident',
which has similarities to Ernst's
'decalcomania'. Here the emphasis is on a flexibility of
response to the process, so as
to persue the development of what can be some surprising
and interesting images,
from an otherwise arbitrary starting point.
The resultant images, can often be something beyond
that envisioned or anticipated,
whatever the original impetus. This 'happening' within
the process, where what
you do seems to take on a life of its own, is something
all creative people will be
aware of.
Using this approach was the basis for a lot of
experimental activity indulged in,
starting with the pen and water-colour sketches done in
my own time while at
college, with no particular intention but to see what
would evolve. (Sketches).
I used pen so all marks were there; I was not
producing 'finished' works. Needless
to say some worked better than others, while most are
lucky to have anything of
merit out of context, which is only to be expected with
highly experimental processes.
Some of these later formed the basis for larger
paintings. All the paintings are done in
acrylic, mainly because of the ability to rework areas
quickly without colours mixing
thereby retaining their purity. However, I did take to
finishing off some with oil colours
because of their depth and richness of colour. In others
I have exploited the 'flatness' of acrylic.
Later paintings after the exhibition consisted of
further experimental abstract work,
and a series of narrative inspired images based
on extracts of Gaelic stories written
up by William Sharp, under the pseudonym of Fiona Macleod.
I have limited my selection on these pages to those I
like or find interesting, or relate
in some way to an overview of painting done. You can make
up your own mind as to
their worth. Anybody wanting to make a good offer on any
work however is
welcome to contact me.
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