Artists Statement
Trace Elements
In my paintings I am captivated by the layered narratives and histories of the landscape and how it shifts and changes over time. The traces that are held within these landscapes and the stories they tell, whether real or imagined, intrigue me. Human interaction with nature; a footpath, a bomb pond created from WW2, a house- a home and what is left of the human spirit in them is the essence of my paintings. Human activity, remnants of a construction, enigmatic details within a landscape or details that might go unnoticed in their everydayness are highlighted. The paintings are about a pause, quiet reflective moments to notice and capture.
Small, delicate and jewel like, created with oil on paper, the oil seeps, stains and marks making the paper translucent, so it possesses in its physicality and colour an otherworldly quality. The paint and the mediums I use such as white spirit (a manmade element) and linseed oil (a natural medium) interacts and fuses, settling and becoming one. This layered process includes not only adding paint but removing paint, to reveal shapes, stains and marks beneath the surface that become intrinsic to the final piece.
The mystery and alchemy of painting is about leaving trace elements on a surface which in turn alludes to the temporality and the human traces left on the landscape that I am so intrigued by….
In my paintings I am captivated by the layered narratives and histories of the landscape and how it shifts and changes over time. The traces that are held within these landscapes and the stories they tell, whether real or imagined, intrigue me. Human interaction with nature; a footpath, a bomb pond created from WW2, a house- a home and what is left of the human spirit in them is the essence of my paintings. Human activity, remnants of a construction, enigmatic details within a landscape or details that might go unnoticed in their everydayness are highlighted. The paintings are about a pause, quiet reflective moments to notice and capture.
Small, delicate and jewel like, created with oil on paper, the oil seeps, stains and marks making the paper translucent, so it possesses in its physicality and colour an otherworldly quality. The paint and the mediums I use such as white spirit (a manmade element) and linseed oil (a natural medium) interacts and fuses, settling and becoming one. This layered process includes not only adding paint but removing paint, to reveal shapes, stains and marks beneath the surface that become intrinsic to the final piece.
The mystery and alchemy of painting is about leaving trace elements on a surface which in turn alludes to the temporality and the human traces left on the landscape that I am so intrigued by….