I'm interested in the feelings and sensations evoked by flat areas of colour and simple shapes.  My paintings are intended as spaces that the mind and eye can inhabit.  I think of these spaces as architectural; I identify with architect Tadao Ando’s wish to create environments that make the viewer ‘feel glad to be alive’.  The finished work that I like the best has qualities of calm or balance, and I feel these come naturally from the process of making, rather than being sought for.    I try to work in a spirit of curiosity and silence, placing painted areas one next to another to see what happens.  At certain points a stable architecture emerges and the painting becomes a place to dwell and to dream. Each piece records the way that the world has moved through me at a given point in time. It contains fragments of my own memories, dreams and associations, but also invites the viewer to enter with their own.  The focus on contemplation, silence and stillness reflects my work process and disposition, and is also a small act of resistance.

 

When working, I try to step out of the way and, within the flat, geometric constraints I’ve set myself, to let the process, materials and happenstance do the talking. I particularly like gouache paint for its velvety, matt, opaque qualities; it’s free of dramatic brushstroke and gesture, therefore offering no distraction from the quiet interplay of coloured surfaces. I choose to work on old papers for their beautiful tactile qualities and the material histories captured in their faded, stained and abraded surfaces.  I like the repetitive, workmanlike application of the paint, and how it’s taken up by the unsized Japanese papers I use.  My process involves the slow, repetitive placing of the brush and constant echoing of compositional elements from painting to painting.  I like to make many variations on a single theme.  Materially, I’m fascinated by the tiny differences that appear in iterations of a single shape or mark, and dimensions of flow and anonymous craftsmanship in repetitive making; and I particularly enjoy the sense that my materials are lively - perhaps even dominant - partners in the creative process.

 

​