Doing is thinking in motion

post.hero-title

Pink disc painting (working title)
acrylic on canvas
200 × 250mm
2024

Mix paint, load a brush, and mark the canvas. While I can think as much as I want about a painting (and often do and need to), tangible progress is only made in the doing. Doing is thinking in motion.

“Everyone has a plan: until they get punched in the face”
– Mike Tyson.

Of course, once the paint hits the canvas, any plans often need to be let go. As I frequently hear in the rugby commentary, you must adapt to an ever-changing game and play to what’s in front of you.

While I’ve started introducing figurative elements to my work, I’m not yet comfortable with them. The face in the above painting wasn’t sitting right, even when turned upside down. The figuration felt forced (perhaps because it was), so it got painted over. Plans were abandoned and adapted to what was working or wasn’t working in front of me.

That said, I think there’s value in using an “inserted provocation,” adding a random element to my painting to ask, “What if…?” Like Edward De Bono’s “Po” tool, using a random word to spark new ideas, there’s value in pushing at the edges of my practice, working in unchartered areas, and discovering what I’m (un)comfortable with.

Momentum

post.hero-title

Work in progress - Hand.


I’m back in the studio after a few days, and it’s taking me a while to get back into the work. I’m feeling lost, wondering what on Earth I’m doing. An hour and a half later, things are starting to make sense, to cohere. I have an understanding of what’s needed, of direction, and of feeling I’m back in the work. Relief. Perhaps this art thing isn’t such a crazy idea after all.

The painterly qualities of a Comms Tower

post.hero-title

Work in progress - acrylic on linen-covered board and laser-print.


Sometimes, things I see grab my attention. This comms tower—something about the structure, the squareness, and brute physicality.

In the studio, the original photo becomes a black-and-white laser print used as a reference for my painting. My brushwork is quite tight right now. For the background, perhaps I’ll go with the blue you see below or keep things in shades of grey. Maybe a stain rather than brushwork. Decisions.

What also strikes me is the painterly quality of the photo. It’s pretty lovely.

Big studio, small paintings, and breaking my rules

post.hero-title

The studio


I now have a vast space to work in. So, of course, I’m working on small paintings.

Work in progress. Small blue painting with cartoon hand raised.

Work in progress. Small painting with abstract marks and an upside-down gestural portrait of Bono.

I’ve started to experiment with figurative images in my paintings.

The source material for the hand comes from one of the many “eye candy” images I’ve saved. An intuitive choice. It reminds me of a Throwing Muses record cover, which, after a quick Google search, exits only in my imagination!

Photo of Marilyn Munroe, hand against the window of a Palmist’s shop. There’s a cartoon hand painted on the window.

Why figurative images?

To see what might happen, to challenge myself technically, and to break some of my unwritten rules about painting.

I feel uncomfortable using figurative images – I’m uncertain how they’ll be read and what they mean. I want to make paintings where I’ve gotten myself out of the way, allowing the painting to emerge. Works that are, hmmm, authentic. I’m not sure if figurative images allow this (yet). It’s early days; this is new ground that will be unfamiliar. Also, I like a challenge.

Daily drawing

post.hero-title




Many artists have their rituals or habits. They may be long-held or fleeting. I’m thinking of Peter Robinson and his “Blind Date” drawings – eyes closed, he writes the day’s date with a stick of charcoal. Or Simon Morris’s Daily Paintings, adding a layer of paint to a canvas daily.

When I start in the studio, I mix up a single colour and, with a brush, draw over the previous day’s drawing. The piece above is from four studio visits, and I think it’s done.

On my next trip to the studio, I’ll start with a fresh (old) sheet of paper – I’m (re)using paper I’ve already drawn/painted on, so there is something to draw over.