I'd love to say there was a particular source of inspiration or some tragic event in my life that drove me to paint, but unfortunately there was nothing more exciting than a mild bout of depression and the fact that I found a voucher for an art supply shop that was giving away free stuff for it's opening day. I had no idea what to do with the free paint and canvas so most of the time I just painted on it and over it repeatedly. I finally annoyed myself enough to decide to do a painting and leave it alone.
The first painting was the Sea Painting made in Winter 2010. I'm not especially proud or pleased with the result though as it was my first painting, it holds an inevitable fondness. Since then I've been sketching, painting and taking photographs.
In the winter 0f 2010, which was particularly chilled both in temperature and economic climate, I visited a lot of London galleries - largely out of having not much money to do anything else! During that winter, I learned about Rothko, Miro, Gerhard Richter, Barnett Newman, Munch, Bacon, Freud and many more.... Exhibitions such as The Italian Futurists, Gaugin, Arshile Gorky, Van Doesburg and others opened my eyes to a new world of fluid boundaries, brazen textures and sweeping motifs. I've always admired traditional, conservative art - in particular the old masters, renaissance work, Pre-Raphaelites etc but visiting the galleries in London in 2010 I discovered a new interest in modern art, something which if I am honest I've always critiscised and rejected.
Armed with this new enthusiasm and inspiration, I intend to create paintings that differ in subject and style in an effort to explore possibilities and hopefully achieve some meaningful result.