Artist Statement

My focus on landscape painting is stimulated by the changing of the seasons and an interest in Biocentrism. Through oil paint, I aim to record the pulses of life emanating from the natural environment, whilst also focussing on the delicate and impermanent nature of our climate today. By using psychogeography as a means of exploration, I am able to approach an environment with a deeper scrutiny, deconstructing the essential characteristics of the landscape from which I draw inspiration. I feel a strong connection to the Kentish countryside, where I have lived for most of my life and this has become the subject of many of my paintings.

 

My most recent work is painted with a sensitive emphasis on the fragility of the surrounding landscape. The emotion portrayed in each painting is dependent on the time of day I choose to depict, which ranges from bright, energising colours elicited in strong daylight to the muted, soft colours created through dawn and dusk. To achieve this, my current work consists of detailed landscapes which are formed through several thinly applied layers of oil and pigment. With this technical decision, I am able to amalgamate realism with a utopian depiction of the setting, using sketches, photographs and my own memories to work from. The very nature of a certain light across a landscape combined with the ephemerality of memory adds to the suggestion of a fleeting, gentle moment in time and space. I hope this evokes a feeling of nostalgia, creating a mindful and contemplative experience for the viewer. 

 

Furthermore, whilst I will always paint on handmade canvases, some of my work is applied on stitched canvas. By using every scrap of material, I intend to avoid waste whilst simultaneously highlighting society’s effort to overlook the clear environmental problems in our world today. I choose this way of working to reflect on the urgency of climate change, showing the contrast between an unstable climate with the beauty and harmony that still exists in our landscape today. By painting this way, the viewer is given a choice; to ignore the material and focus on the setting portrayed, or to be reminded of the instability of the landscape’s existence, carrying this forward in their everyday thinking.