Ian'S Place Painting

"My images often start from the memory of a certain scene or moment that really struck me. Usually it’s one that evokes a very specific time, place, or feeling. Sometimes I don’t necessarily understand why the image resonates so much, I just know that it does, and making the painting becomes a process of trying to understand why.” My work examines universal themes of home, belonging, and connection, and our transient place within the continuum of the natural world. These thoughts take shape in paintings that combine representations of places, people, plants and animals, layered with abstractions that embrace metaphor and ambiguity. Recurring motifs of boats, houses, and travelers, reflect on life’s journeys, arrivals, and moorings. My studio is next to an urban farm, which feels like a space of optimism and renewal, with the rhythms of planting and harvesting subtly shaping the images I produce. During the pandemic I started painting images of plants, often in vibrant colors - a coping strategy of defiantly creating some beauty amid the darkness.