She loves me Painting

Throughout my early years (primary/secondary school, college, art school) I could only, for whatever reason, see value in ‘art’ that displayed a high level of technical ability. I would spend a month painting a face to make sure it resembled the subject or sitter precisely with no compromise whatsoever. If the result wasn’t ‘perfect’, I’d scrap it. Following art school I took some time out to purely experience life and in doing so began to become much more open minded. Having lived a little, I began to realise what art actually is. That’s when things (my approach) changed quite dramatically. For some reason it wasn’t art school that educated me on what art was; it was life. Realism was a good place to start and I’m hugely grateful to possess a decent level of traditional technical ability. The last decade has really been about dissecting the human form in a process unique to myself – chaotic, spontaneous, and what’s more, organic. I now find it much more powerful to capture the essence of a person rather than to accurately convey. The paintings I make today are entirely one-offs that neither myself or anyone else could ever replicate. They are uniquely personal to that specific moment alone, and authentic to me and my life. I don’t look for or seek inspiration; I just live my colourful life and allow that to lead the path for my practice. My paintings are part of me, and it can be hard to let them go. But it fills me with joy that so many people love these things enough to want to look at them everyday.