My paintings are increasingly from my imagination. With sea, sky and coasts in mind. There is very often an horizon line as an anchor. The horizon line provides context too. I paint in a loose and expressive way but my paintings are not abstract.
The first marks on the canvas are made knowing that they are merely a mark to respond to. At this stage I will have a feeling about what I want to express possibly with a colour palette in my mind but not always. It is not until the marks multiply that the process really takes off.
The ‘wet’ studio (a shed in the garden) is for oils. Here I can make a huge mess without feeling restricted. I need an open window at all times as the fumes generated from thinners, glazes etc are dangerous. Consequently this is a fair weather space. Painting with oils and using various mediums and glazes allows me to change course, build up and scrape back until I feel I know the direction I am going in. All the time searching for the moment when the atmosphere and mood begin to take hold. This can be a long process with frequent revisiting but sometimes (rarely) the right effect materialising with comparative ease. I work on flat canvases attached directly to the wall, often standing. The work in this studio can sometimes be a bit frantic and physically demanding.
The ‘dry’ studio is for soft pastels. It is a warm cosy space in the house but with no carpet where I can be free with the pastels, the only mess being the pastel dust and of course no toxic fumes. Increasingly I spend most of my time in this space. Using a course pastel card ( a bit like sand-paper) as the surface I can, to some extent, build up layers but only until the surface cannot hold any more.
There is a translucent quality to soft pastels that I enjoy. I feel calmer in this studio. I often now sit at the table easel and feel less physically drained after a session here.
The moment of knowing when the painting is working and is finished has always been a tricky moment but increasingly I find I just know.