Earlier this year I took off toYnys Môn or Anglesey, an island off the North West coast of Wales with a good friend and painter, Sophie Nixon to spend a week drawing the coastline, to start a series of new paintings. The sea continues to be a significant subject in my work, its edges, depths, rhythms and stories and I attempt to draw its presence, energy, feeling and form is a sort of channel from which to bring forth ideas and to experiment with paint. Sophie on the other hand is looking to the sky in her work, and we found a lot of common ground in our interests and conversations during the residency and in return trips made to the island.
My process involves taking these drawings into the studio and from here I use them to start or ‘open’ a painting. I have been looking at the aerial landscapes of Richard Diebenkorn and Carole Rhodes, alongside figurative paintings especially those of Joan Semmel as references. Holding two states in my mind whilst painting, that of the original landscape and the feeling of the site or place and balancing that with my interest in its connection and relationship to the body.
I am looking forward to showing these paintings at an exhibition with Comme Ca Gallery at its space in the Lowry Hotel in Salford in September.
Opening night: Thursday 5 September
Exhibition Open6 September – 8 October 2024