Hello Again...

Studio 

Hello. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything. This is a lot to do with a lack of time (as ever), which impacts on my motivation to write anything, but also to do with my recent, and typically late, conversion to using Instagram to share my work. I’m finding this really enjoyable for now, and have found it a great way to gauge reactions to some of my work I share, as well as to discover like-minded artists from all over the world to discuss and share ideas and work with. I’ve even sold some work on Instagram too. It’s something I’ve never really achieved much of in 10 years of writing this blog, although this was always something I had hoped when writing it in the first place, but still, I miss writing it a bit as it’s a great opportunity to expand on what you want to say.

Some recent work (some in progress)

I don’t want to go over the last few months in detail, suffice it to say though that I’m enjoying a really good run of painting at the moment, and have been all year really. I seem to have got a bit of my mojo back in terms of making work. I find I’m working with a renewed energy and an enjoyable directness which I think is reflected in the paintings. I’m also continually expanding the subject matter to encompass a wider ranging response to the urban, surburban and edgelands landscape, with a return to putting the formal and abstract elements of the images front and centre. This has at times created a sense of the ‘uncanny’ in the images which I’d like to explore more. I’ve also become a lot bolder and experimental in my use of colour lately in an attempt to seek more of a truth in the light depicted in the paintings than the truth in the colour. This seems to give things a heightened tension and emotional charge.

'Space', oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cms, 2019

I’ve also had a tentative go at making some of my very own merchandise in the form of T-Shirts and Tote Bags, hand-silk screen printed by me, based on a digital design of mine, which I then turned into a linocut which I then turned into a silkscreen. 

My merchandise- tote bags (all sold out!) and T shirts

I really enjoyed trying something new, although it did have its estresses as I hand-printed them all, and I had a stall at my recent college Summer Festival where I’m pleased to report I sold all of the bags and 2 T shirts, so who knows. I’d like to try and do a bit more with this as it seems a fun way of making more of the work I do.