Artist Statement
To me, as an artist, producing a good painting is about exploring all the different facets of composition, colour and technique and not just reproducing an image in a photorealistic way. Although I consider myself a figurative painter, I always try to find that essential balance between the abstract form and the realism of the subject. You could say that I am on the frontier between figurative and non-figurative, or the traditional and the modern.
My technique is based on the principle of painting in layers, using cold bleuish-greys and warm brownish-greys. This delicate balance ensures that they compliment and enhance each other. I start a painting by sketching with big brushstrokes and using the palette knife to look for the right composition, not allowing myself to be distracted by specifics. Once the form of the painting has been established then I begin to work on the birds themselves, bringing in the detail.
My familiarity with birds has ensured that they have become my primary artistic focus. Their shape and colour and the balance of space around and between individuals. These are the main ingredients, also pattern, rhythm, depth and structure, all of which are vital in order to paint a good painting.
At the moment, I am increasingly fascinated by large groups of birds. These large groups have an almost mathematical formation in the way they move and interact and it comes back to the influence of pattern, structure and space.
Spotlight
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