Pastel Study - Open Edition Photograph

- message from the Artist, J.P. de Borst, a Glasgow (Scotland) based Academic. "All my work is abstract and it is a way of connecting with the limitless, the unmeasurable - this contrasts dramatically with my PhD (in Well-Being) and research which is highly numerical in nature. The artwork is most personal. Creating the art is the time I feel the most relaxed. After I have spent two or three hours in academic work I always spend two or three hours engaged in art. There will be some level of pattern and symmetry that emerges but ultimately I stop working on a piece of art once it makes me feel a certain way - a deep sense of well-being. I look at every piece of work that I create that you see here, often, daily, and they bring me great joy, energy, inspiration, clarity and a sense of purpose. All my work is created in a digital format using sophisticated illustration software, however, my techniques produce art which are grounded by modern abstract painters. My love for abstract art started in 2001 when I met artists and academics based in Boston. I feel a greater sense of freedom working with digital formats, not because it allows me to correct errors - I rarely use the erase tool - rather, because it gives me the ability to construct brushes and select colors within moments. My creativity is not bound by time. This also allows incredible fidelity in scalar operations - i.e., my works are designed on an ultra wide monitor that measures almost 1 metre (3.3 feet) in width, however, the software allows me to scale the art to 2 metres without any loss in quality. I can therefore design work that has intricate detail which can be magnified to a size appropriate to observing art with greater comfort. I always create art with the hope that others might share in the feeling of joy I experience at the end of its design (and when I observe it) and can instill a calm and sometimes radical energy and focus - indeed, it is an important part of how I communicate non-verbally with others."