China/japan Print

My painting practice is both a search for subject and means of expression. I am working things out on the canvas. I may start with a clear idea and vision but am open to dramatic changes of late to let meaning evolve. These paintings submitted concern themselves with a particular place or space but each relate to others painted at other times. The place may not be very solid and it may not be very clear but when the painting is finished, a certain number of things have happened with the paint on the canvas dictated by the narrative of that place/space. For the past year I was trying to deal with the locality in which I found myself, a residency at Trinity Buoy Wharf. Though I made some paintings directly referencing the place, for me in the end it was more important to turn inwards or away and take myself off to a place once visited, imagined, or a psychological space within the mind. I am also developing and deconstructing a sculptural practice and trying to see if and where the two practices could intersect. In painting I have looked for subjects which stir emotion in me and styles which compliment that emotion. I try to evolve but there is always something rooted to form and colour which I come back to. Some years drawing in the National Gallery took me away from needing to start every painting with a clear concept and to trust in the history of painting. Portrait painting is another area of my practice which benefited from time at the National Gallery.