Looking Through the Woods Painting

I am a painter currently studying for a Degree in Fine Art at Bath. My work has developed over the past year, focus has moved further towards landscape based work where the elements of flow and openness are apparent. Landscape has always been a continual source of inspiration and references for this comes from sketches and recordings using film photography from my travels. My paintings are primarily influenced by landscape however also possesses elements that could be recognisable as bodily representation. It plays on emptiness as much as the more intense detailing within parts. Incorporating within it precise and detailed elements along with vast, blank areas of canvas. The resemblance to landscape comes from the large expansive views along with detailed single elements such as trees and close up surfaces. The element of light has always played a major part in my work and in recent pieces this is still apparent through the choice of colours and incorporation of blank spaces that help reflect light. Primarily taking colour from the landscape which is then abstractly represented - possessing a free ambiguity with representational references. I am interesting in experimentation with the medium of paint and the different qualities of surface and texture you can achieve. Mixing painting medium with oils, altering its fluidity, has enabled me to achieve a variety of different surface qualities within my work. Working in layers the process of production is of great importance to the painting process and as a result the space behind the space becomes apparent. Perspective therefore comes into play, in both the subject matter and the marks on the canvas.