Nieghbours Painting

I am a practising artist, living and working in Yorkshire. My work, whilst contemporary is very much grounded in the traditional skills and craftsmanship of a painter. I take my inspiration from exploring public spaces. I analyse the architectural structures that frame a place, exploring the importance of colour, pattern, surface texture and the intrinsic geometry of the immediate internal and/or external surroundings. I am interested in space and how it is both occupied and empty, and what it is about a specific location that gives it its character and makes it unique. My work combines realism; in capturing the detail, with abstraction; emphasising the dominant visual element of the subject. I paint on canvas and board with acrylics and oils, and find the subject dictates the shape and size, sometimes demanding an unconventional shape or 3D solution. The close scrutiny of one’s surroundings and exploration of its individuality, inevitably results in the development of a close connection/relationship with each specific location. In the words of Henry David Thoreau … ‘The discoveries that we make abroad are special and particular: those which we make at home are general and significant. The further off, the nearer the surface. The nearer home, the deeper.’