Artist Statement - Revised Version!

I've been concerned ever since I wrote my original statement that it simply doesn't convey well enough the motivation behind what I do. Being honest with yourself is important as it promotes emotional and intellectual evolution that will serve to support your art. In addition to which your audience will figure dishonesty and lack of focus pretty soon which is just a poor exercise in self marketing.
I stumbled upon this post from Molly Gordon where she guides the artist through honest and authoritative writing using an incredibly simple yet illuminating vehicle. Studying this gave me a clearer understanding of my intent and consequently I feel that I've produced a statement that sums up my own direction and motivation more succinctly:


Artist Statement
Any single colour will have its own character which can foster a unique relationship with others. When I work with colour, I consider how each hue relates to an underlying or adjacent mark. Relationships can vary where two colours have the ability to integrate or repel one another. My aim is to offer combinations that create harmony, beauty and energy and to avoid coarseness. 

I begin a piece without preconception or consideration to what the finished work may be. The physical landscape of the North Downs surrounding my studio is the only vehicle I use to influence these abstract pieces. The canvas will evolve as I layer colour on each other and manipulate the transparency. Eventually a direction will establish involving colours, viscosity and flow of brush marks which I pursue until the point at which can best be described as the canvas sings to me. The result, after what is often a labour intensive process can look and feel as spontaneous as a chemical reaction. 

The momentum that a successful canvas produces gives me a sense of excitement derived from the creation of an affinity between colour, viscosity, transparency and mark-making. My real satisfaction however, comes from my audience identifying this alliance within the whole or any part of the painting. 

Acrylics are a superb medium for attaining these goals in my work. They are malleable, mix well and relatively quick drying depending on the thickness I choose to lay down. A final coat of gloss enhances the feeling of energy and character that would ordinarily be unobtainable. 

These new explorations in colour challenge an inherent resistance I had to using colours unhindered. It has been a liberating performance and experience for me and I view these new paintings as each having a life and character of their own.