Strange Days Painting

This painting is part of my In Between Days series first shown at The Other Art Fair in London in October 2016. One of the pieces in this series was selected for the prestigious Creekside Open 2017 in London, and was sold shortly after the Open Exhibition began. The framed size of this painting is 44.2 x 34 x 5.5 cm This series of work came as almost a surprise to me. I have in the last ten years or so created many paintings. But, in the course of time, many remain incomplete, or are left unfinished by the exhibition deadline, self-imposed or otherwise. Pieces fall between the packing cases, whilst moving from one studio to the next, or, when a large series of paintings come to an end. What does one do with these ‘forgotten’ pieces? Many paintings in this series started in this way, taking an abandoned canvas, reworking it in such a way as to leave original areas of paint still present, building layers and glazes, working with old and new. This is a most interesting and rewarding process, that which had been abandoned could be suddenly brought back into play, covered and revealed, resulting in a complexity and richness which otherwise would not be there. The pieces in the series are made with oils or acrylic paint; occasionally I finish an acrylic with oils, depending on the thickness of paint and other issues. The viscosity and transparency of paint plays into the process, digging into and scraping back, glazing and re-enlivening surfaces, all mean that unsought colours and structures arise. Thus the painted surface remains volatile, image and surface vying for our attention in a most interesting and dynamic way. This polarity is an essential element in the making and appreciation of the work. A friend once told me I make ’slow art’, I like this, she understood the need for time in ‘seeing’ into a painting. This for me is the “why” of painting; that a piece becomes more than the sum of its parts, in the act of seeing. An abstract image can shift in meaning from one day to the next, from one view to the next, from one viewer to the next.