Let's Talk Art Blog

If you're a creative you'll be familiar with the fear and excitement of staring at a blank canvas. The possibilities seem endless, but where do you start? I have no plan when I start a new work, I just know that the need to create is strong and urgent. I begin a piece with what looks like incoherent mark making, to energise the canvas and begin a dialogue with the surface. This immediately creates the opportunity to start to making decisions and consider preferences.

This piece was a challenge as I wanted to explore working on a smaller scale. My usual preference for canvas size is twice the size of this piece. I find larger work more engaging physically which creates a momentum and energy of its own. 'Inhabit' has a stillness about it which I think was dictated by the need to remain physically still in order to focus and apply paint in a controlled way.

Sometimes it's good to put away the colour for a day and work in monochrome. I find it's a great way to focus on mark making, explore values and just play and sketch without thinking about the outcome - all kinds of good things can happen when you least expect it!

See how this painting evolved. I photograph my work as I go, partly to do a value check here and there and partly so I can revisit decisions and see if I have made the right one in terms of moving the work forwards. And yes, sometimes I feel as though I'm going backwards, but I get there in the end!

This painting went through so many changes and different layers before it finally became resolved. Check out the colourful beginnings and watch the work unfold.

This painting was the first in my new 'Distillation Series'. I was exploring a new way of working and pushing my work towards greater abstraction, trying to make landscape references more subtle and challenging myself to find new ways of 'seeing'.