Spirit (Tori Amos) Painting

My paintings often reflect social culture and nightlife, exploring the interiors of bars, clubs, cafes and their inhabitants. I observe the non-narrative, like a designer or photographer sourcing a tableau of interest and beauty. Seduced by colour, my paintings contain strong contrast and uncompromising hues. Photography is instrumental to my process, I use the camera as a tool to acquire variations in imagery. Long exposures capture more than is already there and blurring, distortion and movement appear. These variations of light fascinate me, a mystery of unknown energy captured in a moment and then processed through hand and paint onto canvas. The image comes through me; absorbed, personalised and then expressed in form, semi-abstract while reminiscent of its realist beginnings. Recently I have focussed on a deeply personal series of portraits centring on feminine identity. Unlike previous non-narrative work, the subjects of these paintings are female icons or close personal friends. Each has a story to tell of struggle, whether physical or emotional, and overcoming adversity with an attitude and presence which has touched and inspired me. Alongside ancient Hindu and Buddhist deities reflecting the divine mother; Sarasvati, Tara, and Prajnaparamita, the women in this personal project are revered for radiating the intrinsic virtues their titles suggest: strength, spirit, will, light, hope… Each likeness merges with its respective background, light coming through form, to suggest not only the multi-faceted complexity of their own personal identities, but a higher connectivity to a universal creative dimension.