Traverse, No. 1 Painting

Born in Nottingham, UK, in 1968. I haven’t followed the usual route towards becoming a Fine Artist (if I can call myself that, yet); but when my wedding videography business came to an end in 2008, I wanted to find something that would satisfy my creative needs far better than it had been done with the weddings. I had dipped my toes into several things along the way, such as calligraphy, typeface design, poetry, and writing, but all had to be dropped for the commitments I had to the wedding bookings. Unfulfilled and frustrated is a feeling that seems to have always been with me. I had sacrificed my artistic calling for too long! But then my Mother was diagnosed with Dementia, and I wanted to stay at home to care for her. Painting pictures seemed to be the perfect solution, and I finally enjoyed a few creative years. But then the decline of my Father came along, and my Mother’s needs grew, so I have not been as prolific with the painting as I would like to have been recently. But at least it is for a better reason than having to do a job that I didn’t enjoy. Maybe there will always be something to stop me fulfilling my destiny, but at least I have learnt through my parents that I can at least get closer to it by painting pictures with oil paint. If I were to try to penetrate the core of my work, I feel that the therapeutic feeling of calligraphy, and the drawing of serif’d typefaces with a pen or pencil, is probably in there somewhere. The swirling lines have always had a meditative impact on me. I also enjoy the challenge of finding an aesthetically pleasing design when working with a set of rules that are, perhaps, not apparent. If a line has committed itself to a certain direction, how can I get it to arrange itself in a way that I find appealing?