Towards Abstraction
Last year I became interested in making abstract art using acrylic paints. I was inspired by American abstract artist Betty Franks, who works in acrylic and other water based media. I love the freedom and spontaneity of her approach and thought I would bring some more of that into my work too. Whilst her work is totally abstract, I wanted to retain a clearer detail of my subjects, but use the layered approach, working fast and drying the paint with a hair dryer in between layers. The result is that in one day you can create at least eight layers of paint and drawings. This is so much faster and freer than anything you can do in oil paint.
Hanoi Street Scene at Dusk
25cm x 30cm Acrylic and chalk on canvas
We visited Hanoi, Vietnam in 2008 and it was exactly like Graham Green's description. Dripping with misty rain, large dense trees with hundreds of scurrying figures, women carrying heavy loads on poles, streets lit with lanterns and bobbing motorcycle headlamps.
Fading Rose
30cm x 40 cm Acrylic and chalk on canvas
End of Summer, this last rose reveals a myriad of colours as it disintergrates (Sold to Robert of Steyning)
House at Motrone
30cm x 40cm Acrylic and chalk on canvas
I have painted this house in Italy three times now and each time I am drawn to the simple elegance of this building and the autumn colours stealing into the scene. The orange gourds I had not included in earlier paintings are a reminder of the season and the lyrical feeling of this place in the mountains.
Fighting Boys
25x20 Acrylic on prepared card
Based on a painting by M. Lüpertz 2014 (a reinterpretation of Jason and Heracles). This is reinterpreted by me into a remembered play-fight between an Olympic athlete I knew (the son of my friend Maggie Gowing) and a heavily built British man of Ghanan origin. The interplay of skin colours and the raw energy I find intriguing if a little confronting as well. The two were slightly vying for the attention of a young girl (not depicted here).
Paros from Antiparos
Large, approx 60cm x 40cm Acrylic on canvas
I made a series of paintings whilst visiting Antiparos, Greece in 2015, inculding views towards the larger island of Paros. This scene was photographed by our friend Jane, who sent the photo as a card. Although I had painted this scene before, I had not included the wonderful pink oleander which I think adds a vibrant colour contrast.
Falling Rose
Acrylic on canvas 30cm X 30cm
This depicts the rose "Compassion" as it falls and fades for another season. The colours seem more intense and interesting as the flower begins to disintegrate.
Untitled Abstraction
Acrylic on paper 24cm X 24cm
This abstraction was done at the time of working on some other pictures of the Chilean Fjords and (I think) has sea, ice, rocks and islands in it.
Ice Meets Sea: The End of the Glacier
Acrylic on canvas 40cm X 40cm
When we went on the South American Cruise in 2020, travelling down the Chilean Fjords we stopped beside a huge glacier which was reaching the sea. Inside the ice there was a luminescent blue, almost a floruescent blue, within certain shapes of the crumbling and falling ice sheet. This picture is about that mixing and merging of forms.
Bethnal Green
Acrylic on canvas 50cm x 60cm
This is based on a series of sketches I made in this area of East London whilst I was working on a penthouse apartment owned by our friend Hugh. It was a colourful and lively place to spend a few days and the underground station was always full of interesting characters. This was my first picture attempted using the mark-making and many layered style.
Pond Life (2023) acrylic on canvas £220