Rising Tide.
This work speaks to the role and meaning of my art practice by expressing the different states of mind that being an artist can provoke. One is both outside, observing and reflecting the world, and yet attuned to an internal landscape that one is also trying to express. The character that is contained within the structure is the embodiment of that mindset. She feels both separate yet desires to connect.
The filament that separates her is ephemeral, described as the mesh of fine dots that suggest a solid form and yet is an illusion too. Painting is the ‘language’ that facilitates the movement from the internal to the external, makes the imagined, ‘real’.
Inspiration is found in many different ways, but is described by the light that shines from the orb above, offering her ‘insight’ which she looks up towards.
Making art is part of my core, and this structure in which she exists, describes this core. Set against the larger sense of self, it is bright, alive and magical.
Making art can be a solitary affair. The ladder that rests against the wall suggests that she longs to venture out to make connections. Sometimes it seems impossible.
The bird, a symbol of freedom, wisdom and vulnerability watches from a distance, reminding her by its silent presence that all these aspects of ourselves are important if we are to truly connect and express ourselves.
My paintings are full of colour; colour to evoke feelings, to embody states of mind, to free us from the ‘concrete’ that surrounds us. My paintings also express metaphorical and psychological intent. The subject matter is emotional on a personal level, but at the same time expresses feelings of a universal consequence. I have, over the period of three decades, worked on an exacting and rigorous search for self, combined with a quest to create a world of dream and reflection. The work explores transience and transformation, with the riddle of identity at its core.