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 Art making for me is a form of playing, in the same way dance, music and the performing arts is playing. I enjoy making it and the aim is that it brings joy to others.

 

My approach is often to set up rules and games for myself to play, much like someone will create a game or a puzzle and then try to solve it. So I would start off by working with wild abandon using colour, texture, line and form and then I will work to create balance and harmony in the composition to make an aesthetically pleasing and coherent artwork. 

 

In my work I tend to focus on themes of the natural world which range from a more realistic representation of landscapes, forest or plantlife to an absolute abstract work, like in this exhibition. But often I’m somewhere in the middle with a blend of abstract and realistic depiction.

 

I regularly observe that people try to make out a recognisable image in abstract works, and I think that this is the mind trying to comprehend something that is not exactly definable or recognisable. As humans it is a crucial part of our understanding to categorise and label the world around us. But as in forms like abstract art or jazz perhaps where things are less explained we might find it either frustrating or liberating as we allow ourselves to be unrestrained of constructive meaning and exact definition, and give ourselves permission to sense pure abandon and joy. 

 

The theme “Colouring Between the Lines” is simply an ironic, self explanatory reference to society’s tendency to conditioning, rules, restrictions and boundaries in the natural playfulness and creativity of humans.

 

Words commonly associated with abstract art are balance , emphasis , rhythm, unity, variety, contrast, movement, surprise, individual voice and soul. I hope I have met some of these criteria.

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Thank you for being a patron of the arts.