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Sunday, 12 June 2011

artists statement for Cuckmere Exhibition

I am currently developing my art practise through drawing, collage and painting. I love exploring mark making and working with shape, line and form to get the right 'fit'. It is from this starting point that I am looking for a way to make paintings, which are in relationship with the original subject matter and beyond that form a further relationship within the confines of the physical surface.

It is important to me to begin by working from the original source, developing and recording my response to the subject matter, in this case the landscape of Cuckmere Haven. Recently I have moved from making initial sketches solely in black and white to colour.

I actively look at the subject from several angles and immerse myself in the landscape for some time. This forms the basis for an intuitive response, which I then pursue through collage. The process involves me segmenting my response into the overall sense of colour, surface textures, form and line, solidity and movement.

As this process evolves the surface of the ‘painting’ develops a character and story of its own. At each stage I refer back to the original source – my feelings, memories, impressions and sketches, in order to build independence and integrity. (The end products take hours of meticulous positioning, reconsidering and re-positioning)

Each piece of collage material is derived from a journey of its own, often forming a family of pieces. It is through this journey that I develop a relationship with each piece and often form attachments, which I sometimes need to break in order to get the right ‘fit’. Throughout, the original source remains an essential common thread and gives me the confidence to detach when necessary to create an ultimately more interesting discovery.

Pump Barn:
segments2

early sketch for segments 2

Segments 2 
Light and shadow, colour fields and livestock movement. The ochre door suggests a way into this hidden natural world.

Segments 1

segments 1

early sketch for segments 1

Riverbank and river flow broadside, reflections and chalk face.  Contrast of solidity and movement.

Segments 4 

segments 4

Turn of the river, a sense of permanence, solidity counterpoised by fluidity, floating forms suggesting erosion and gradual change.

In the last 18 months I have completed four private commissions. 
I studied Glass Design at Edinburgh College of Art and left with BA(HONS) in 1991.
Since graduating I lived in London for 10 years and moved to the south coast of England in 2003. I now have three young boys.

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