opens.plenty.revives (multi) Painting

My consistent focus for several years has been to explore the breadth of the spectrum between representation and abstraction. Each series of work starts with a subject but progresses towards abstraction as I explore the subject and render it in two dimensions, examining line and shape, negative space and the effects of light, the link to the subject slowly becomes stretched and obscured. Taking something that is not there, the negative space between things, and making that the subject of the paintings. I enjoy examining opposites within my work; the contrast of loose, expressive brushstrokes overlaid with drawn lines and painstaking fine brush work; the play between positive and negative space, between foreground and background; the interplay of abstraction with the suggestion of representing something recogniseable. Working primarily with water-based materials allows the use of water itself as part of the process, working in layers and then fully or partially washing them away, taking advantage of the ‘happy accidents’ that occur, bringing an element of experimentation into every painting. I enjoy the use of adding a graphic line to create silhouettes, redacting negative space, playing with foreground/background, or focusing so closely on something that it becomes essentially abstract.