|
|
|
For me, the act of putting paint on the surface of a panel or canvas does not have such a straightforward function, for the process, as the paint, is fluid and suggestive. This is why the physical aspect of painting is so important. I may place a stroke where I want, but the character of that mark leads to, indeed determines, the activity that follows. If this is true for the brush stroke, it is true for the tonal structure, the color, and the texture – all that constitutes artistic form.
In the creation of my work, I use the best Belgian linen and aged marine-grade plywood supports. The pigments are hand-ground; this produces larger grains that, suspended in the oil medium, produce better, more saturated color. The medium or vehicle is a combination of cold-pressed linseed oil, turpentine, litharge of lead (a dryer) and mastic varnish. The products were recorded in the inventories of seventeenth-century painters, and I admire their varied results, whether in the freedom and verve of Ruben’s fluid execution or the contemplative quality of Vermeer.
My pictures start with broadly worked underpainting, usually of burnt or raw umber. In this phase, I work out the main features to create some indication of form, described by the pattern of light and dark and suggesting the overall tonality of the composition.
When this layer is more-or-less dry, I then work in areas, as the drying time of the paint is critical. Typically, I lay in a dark transparent layer of paint and, when this begins to set up, I paint the middle and higher tones to complete the description of form. The result is most often a combination of opaque paint, perhaps built up in an “impasto,” in the areas of light, and transparent glazes of paint in the half-tones and shadows. Many associate the “quiet luminosity” of my images with a mood of contemplation appropriate to the subjects and compositions.
My painting is varied in style and subject; indeed, my choice of subject has much to do with my approach to form. My first professional exhibition featured portraits and figures in interiors, and I have never lost interest in the subject. However, opportunities to draw and paint landscape, and my academic interest in architecture, have led me over the years to develop a special approach to Nature and buildings (and a combination of both) as an expression of my experience of place and feelings about the past.
A few years ago, I encountered for the first time the Lowcountry of South Carolina, and immediately felt an affinity with this area. The expansive horizontal space of the marshes with its network of water channels invites the eye to wander laterally and into the distance; the plane of the marsh provides a surface of constantly changing tone and color that relate not only to the varied vegetation but to the sky above, the light source which itself changes with the fitful coastal weather. My visits to Charleston are now dominated by drawing and painting this subject.
Naturally, in each project, I look forward to the challenge of painting expression, mood and the beauty of the human form and the possibility of re-creating an evocative environment.
|
|
|
