My Profile

I never know what to say when I have to write about what I do (I suppose this is why I choose to paint). So please take into account that it is likely to be the "inexpressive trying to express the inexpressible". I’ll try to give an honest insight without, I hope, being too pretentious.

Unlike most realist painters I don’t see things and want paint them (although I sometimes wish I did, as I suspect it might be easier). My life presents me with emotional and intellectual challenges which can either concern, intrigue or amuse me. In an attempt to make sense of these experiences I try and come up with imagery that explores, or expresses, them. I don’t know whether I would classify this as 'conceptual' but the outcome is always 'about' something.  

The resulting imagery is not illustrative, it is always metaphorical. This is because I am trying by painting an image to "understand", not to be understood. I don’t know whether this would be classified as 'conceptual' but the outcome is always 'about' something.  

It is essentially an intuitive process. I generate images that for me express something - I don’t exactly know of what, and I don’t analyse what it might be. It isn’t that I don’t evaluate possibilities (I spend days choosing exactly what will be included in each painting) but the evaluation is made on a purely "like/dislike" basis. 

Viewers are often misled by the exactitude of the style into thinking I know what I am doing (ie.Trying to tell them something), whereas, paradoxically, I am actually trying to find out something. Any resulting ambiguity is then not deliberate but as a result of my ‘not knowing’. The paintings, to use another metaphor, are like a mirror - they reflect something of myself back to me. Their revelations often surprise me. They rarely provide answers but, if I successfully encapsulate whatever feelings stimulated them, sometimes a separation occurs and I can move on.  

My creative process is unquestionably self-centred in that I do it for myself - not to please, or appease, others (seeking approval is natural, but I believe it ultimately it corrupts art and undermines originality). The only justification is the hope that I may engender the same stimulation and enjoyment in others that the arts provide me.