The Space Between (2024) - a series of works on paper
A short video discussing the new series
The idea for the series of paintings on paper
Last year I painted two studies, one red and one blue, made up of fragments of colour. These were my first studies looking at this particular type of image making. These works soon found a home with a collector and I knew that I wanted to push this technique further and see where it would lead me.
INTERVAL, 2024 - pencil and watercolour on paper - 76 × 56cm / 30 × 22in
From the point, the simple idea was to take the single brush mark that I used in my oil painting and re-make it using watercolour. I wanted to see if the language of the mark would translate across mediums. So, I began to translate the textured single brush mark of the oil paint into the flatness of watercolour. Key to this is the fact that in oils I make a mark in one physical press of the brush, while in these pieces the individual marks, or fragments, are painted carefully with multiple strokes.
CADENCE, 2024 - pencil and watercolour on paper - 76 × 56cm / 30 × 22in
Starting a painting
To start a painting I make one shape. I then paint the next shape to fit, but not touching. And so on. It’s this repletion that I find fascinating. In these work all the marks are visible on the picture plain.
COUNTERPOINT, 2024 - pencil and watercolour on paper - 76 × 56cm / 30 × 22in
Although these compositions have a more graphic quality to my canvases - sharp edges and simple shapes - I am really conscious to not over plan. I do draw the key shapes, but I don’t plan the colours. As always my use of colour is intuitive. I think a blue, or pink will be interesting so I go with it and as one colour goes down I respond by going to the next and so on.
INTERLUDE, 2024 - pencil and watercolour on paper - 76 × 56cm / 30 × 22in
Fragments and Repetion
Why fragments and why repetition? there is something deeply mindful about taking one step at a time and repeating one simple gesture. It is meditative. I hope this introspection comes through in the work. I also really love the simplicity of working with watercolour on paper - there is something really fundamental about the combination of the media. There’s no need for complex mixes of media or priming and stretching. Just a smooth sheet of soft paper and my colours. There is an element of magic I think in painting where we take these materials and create something new with them.
MARGINAL, 2024 - pencil and watercolour on paper - 76 × 56cm / 30 × 22in
