Recently I have undergone a shift in my painting by resolving to paint more from my imagination and use references much less, and really allow the paint to do the talking. Of course there is always an element of planning, decisions, experience and foresight but I am striving to let instinct and inventiveness also have equal presence. It is making me feel very happy, even though it has thrown up some uncomfortable confrontations with my own thoughts, which, however, I am embracing as part of the whole.
Skeletons are where it’s at it seems, for now, palpable meaning is elusive but their tumbling forms in stylised waves make me feel oddly joyous. I’m not sure anyone else will read that. Interesting comments from fellow artists have referred to tombs, wombs and suspension in water, as in amber. I’m going to dismantle them soon and see how that looks, as I’ve been looking at the Rumplestiltskin etching by David Hockney where he tears himself apart, it is horribly dark and at the same time quite funny and it is this I want to emulate.