Haar in situ
I am deep in the process of painting several large paintings of the sea and have been asked a few times about whether and where they’ll be exhibited. Short answer is I don’t know.
Painting is about what I feel not about what I think. It is a process of connecting to where my heart is and allowing myself the freedom to paint exactly that. I have practiced responding to my feelings through zen meditation for around 7 years which has opened up the joy of feeling and experiencing rather than thinking my way through life. Applying this theory to painting began with dispersing with the word should and replacing it with want – what should I be painting replaced with what do I want to paint, which transformed working into the most joyous period of painting and released me from artistic block, doubt and insecurity.
There is no feeling like connecting my work in this way it is extraordinarily exciting.
The sea paintings are made with this mindset. I swim every week all through the year in the North Sea- green, cold, exciting, demanding, glorious and beautiful. I have been taking photos while in the water for a couple of years and have over a thousand images. They’ve been brewing, embedding in my mind for some time and with encouragement to ‘go large’ from a respected gallerist they are now bursting out of me in these large paintings and diptychs.
Exhibiting is secondary to making the work. I don’t ever paint with a plan to exhibit in mind, I just make the work I want to make. Something will happen with them one day but where and when I have no idea. Right I’m off to make more, three large canvases are primed, washed and ready to go.