Paintings
My painting is about being in the landscape, surrounded by it, rather than looking at it as if detached. My interest is not so much in topographical representation, but in the sensory and physical, even emotional, experience of being in a particular place at a particular time of day or season. The places that come to mind for me in act of painting are predominantly drawn from the agricultural landscape of west Cornwall and the farm where I grew up. Daily discussion about the weather, and its effect the planting or gathering or crops featured large; the livelihood of the local community depended on the effect of seasonal change and influence of the weather on the land.
Farm work involves physically handling the soil, digging things from it and putting things into it, within a timeframe dictated by the cycle of the seasons. The weather is difficult to predict and impossible to control. Crops are sown in lines. A severe frost or a drought can wipe out months of preparation. My interest in the surface qualities of the landscape, on the forces that influence colour change, on how different layers or marks are made, either randomly of deliberately, and the impact they have upon each other, has influenced my approach to painting. Incorporated into some of my paintings are systems of notation that describe aspects of topography or climate – contour lines, isobars, symbols and grids.
The development of my practice has been informed by the work and ideas of a range of artists including Alfred Wallis, Peter Lanyon, Richard Long, Cy Twombly, Ana Mandieta, Agnes Martin and Edwina Leapman.
Farm work involves physically handling the soil, digging things from it and putting things into it, within a timeframe dictated by the cycle of the seasons. The weather is difficult to predict and impossible to control. Crops are sown in lines. A severe frost or a drought can wipe out months of preparation. My interest in the surface qualities of the landscape, on the forces that influence colour change, on how different layers or marks are made, either randomly of deliberately, and the impact they have upon each other, has influenced my approach to painting. Incorporated into some of my paintings are systems of notation that describe aspects of topography or climate – contour lines, isobars, symbols and grids.
The development of my practice has been informed by the work and ideas of a range of artists including Alfred Wallis, Peter Lanyon, Richard Long, Cy Twombly, Ana Mandieta, Agnes Martin and Edwina Leapman.