It’s been a dry year in terms of making new work and I have been relying on the work I have created over the past few years to sustain my creative spirit, by rearranging, reposting re imagining. I have also been looking, listening, digesting and focusing my eyes to the things that my heart cannot let go of, therefore aligning my inclination to a more focused horizon. That horizon is painting. I have been drooling over various paint applications of simple shapes with varying levels of opacity and weight for some time now. Dreaming of a tentatively placed whisper of paint versus a gloopy plop in the exact right spot! while sending shivers down my spine.

I am happiest when I am responding to the world through the skills I have accrued with my hands and a love of paint and muted colour. Interpreting and composing colours, shapes and contrasting textures with a gestural stroke. Not knowing what will happen, whether they will carry the sophistication I need in the chosen ones and simply enjoying the response my hands are having to my eyes’ inclination. Any clarification of skills or sophistication come much later and all I am concerned with in the moment is whether my hands are respecting my heart and eye, in translating the correct angle, weight and pressure of my hand. The holy grail is a feeling of resolve that I have been true to my eye, heart and hand.

Rothko says ‘For skill in itself is but a sleight of hand. In a work of art one does not measure its extent but counts himself happiest when he is unaware of its existence in the contemplation of the result.’ The Artists Reality, 2004.

The content this time is where it all began, back in my childhood. Reconnecting to the landscapes of holidays and weekends as a family in Cornwall. The sea greens, dark infested blacks, stone beige and anemone purples. It was only a few years ago that I realised my colour palette came from my childhood and it’s feels like my work is coming full circle and it feels wonderful!

See the series here