Green Man Drawing

Creating, for me, is the attempt to understand and express something of life. Harmony, beauty and balance can be present even in the most complex and contradictory. Imagination is a place to incubate ideas; a stage for thoughts, emotions and action. As the scene develops I am its benevolent chimerical conductor as well as narrator, choreographer, architect and gardener. While I appreciate the importance of recording what can be seen, I am more intrigued by the unseen, ephemeral qualities that animate and give character to any thing or place. I aim to convey something of the spirit and of fragmented gesture hinting at moments about to unfold. The trajectory of my life as an artist has been a hopscotch start-stop-start with numerous detours. Having reached a certain point on that parabolic arc, I'm aiming to devote more of my energies to making. Some of my designs are like still scenes from a play with a hint of narrative. There is always an element of storytelling. Even when the 'stage' appears vacant of characters the viewer is presented with light, colour, pattern and texture to inspire a mood. Currently, I'm developing a series of mixed media paintings which are something like constructing a mosaic and a mille-feuille pastry in paint, oil pastel, inks, paper and assorted miscellanea. Although I do some sketching, my work evolves. The outcomes sometimes vary greatly from early imaginings. The studio is like a hard-hat area. As an artist, designer and maker, I am as much a work in progress as any project. Fueling the creative process requires open dialogue between experiences, observations, memories, thoughts and feelings. What is it that urges me to create? It's a combination of immersive concentrated uncensored detached-from-all-else moments of a-HA and the lingering outward-looking connection with others that develops and spreads in crystalline fashion.