Artist's statement

The more I paint, I find myself needing to capture the essence of a location, the feel, the weather conditions. This has resulted in my preferred technique of capturing the “bones” of my subject and then being in control of my lighting. Simplicity done well is a powerful thing where perhaps there is a distillation process in my observation of a subject resulting in a freshness of gesture and a leaning toward more contemporary imagery.

I love experimenting with textures using a broad range of media from my life experiences. In doing so I have found links between my methods of painting and working with ceramic media, enabling me to become a more integrated multi-media artist.

Concentrating on the “essence” of an image and using broad brush strokes and sometimes vivid colour to represent “reality” leads to what some regard as “abstraction”.  However, viewed from a distance “reality” is definitely there – it’s amazing how much your brain contributes to the viewing experience, making “sense” of simpler cues. I hope this experience of “essence” conveys more than a “realistic” representation, I want it to be toward my original viewing experience, it’s in search of the hyper-real.