Process

Now I take a different approach to much of my work, with often a vague idea of subject if any, but focus instead on the materials and a restricted palette. When I start, I sort of give my hands free range to have a conversation with my eyes, but watching, waiting, listening, trying not to consciously interrupt. Often, the painting says little I understand, and I may need to add a prompt by taking a photo, and mixing the image with a stored photograph using Photoshop (masking). Personal photographs are very powerful but sometimes too much so, the image replacing the experience. For my generation there could easily be long periods with almost no photos – in fact, when I went to university, 1964-68, I made a conscious decision not to take photographs, I had no camera (I do have many hand-written letters). Are my memories poorer, less vivid for not having photographs – I do not think so. When you explore something new, one can suddenly unearth a fragment of memory – yes I remember, and it is all the more powerful for its unexpectedness.