Charred Painting

A self taught abstract painter born in Norfolk in 1970, now living and working in Middlesex, I create works in a variety of media, mainly acrylics and gesso to create atmospheric and deceptively understated pieces. I started abstract painting during a long period of chronic ill health as it provided comfort. Feeling imprisoned in my own body, it followed that my mind, perhaps as a form of  self-preservation 'hibernated', and abstract art became the obvious and indeed only form of self expression. The addition (and removal) of multiple layers of mixed media over a large expanse of board offer overall depth. Emerging delicately from that expanse are textured details evoking fresh possibilities to challenge the stability of hibernation. Occasionally, textured areas, sometimes in gold leaf, give an overriding sense of understated optimism. Inspired partly by Japanese aesthetics, the beauty of simplicity also proved calming during those years of illness, where the ‘void’ of an apparent simple block of colour becomes a space of potentiality and hope. Having previously worked as a picture frame restorer I developed an appreciation of the qualities of some of the traditional materials used in that field. Incorporating them in many of my paintings they help to provide depth and texture.