Untitled Painting

A large part of my practice as an oil painter involves exploring the behaviour of oil paint when used with oil mediums. My work is predominantly abstract yet can appear quite figurative, the paint application being designed to emulate the forms of jellyfish in dark waters or galaxies in space. Each canvas has its own alien like world, where the assemblage of paint is the inhabitant. The compositions are developed with intuitive painting. I pour pools of liquid medium on to the horizontal canvas. The pool of paint and resin takes on a life of its own, gravity and different drying times take effect; changing its shape and surface patterns. The rest of the painting is painted more traditionally; cloud like forms appear to grow from the shiny translucent shapes against a dark void. Control and contrast are key to my work: as I begin a new canvas I use mediums and paint in a free, uncontrolled way, in contrast to the final painted layer which is finished in a much more controlled and careful style. Interestingly, this process takes away some of the compositional decision making, which can lead to both disasters or wonderful mishaps. The surface of the canvas is built of contrasting textures of gloss and matt as well as contrasting colour. My palette and style has been influenced by the paintings of the Dutch Golden Age where colour choice represented an indulgent and decadent time using golds, rich reds and velvety blues, restricted by available pigments of the day. However I also like to introduce modern pigments into the mix, incorporating modernity with the traditional chiaroscuro technique. I like to replicate the theatre of these old works, highlighting the focal features and setting them against a dark absorbing background.