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I had always wanted to
paint people but when I couldn’t find anyone who would sit for me I
started to find things that would : pieces I found around me in my
studio, in my grandmothers’ house, in the woods, or brought in by
the tide on the shore. My foraging resulted in a cuckoo’s nest of
characters. These things - random belongings of humans and nature -
have memories ,meanings and characters - just as people do. They had
their stories to tell as well. And so I began to paint their
portraits. |
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An object’s interest to me
might not be immediately apparent. |
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For example, I was instantly attracted to
the qualities of a red jug I found in a market and took it back to
my studio to paint and it was only later that I realised its’ colour
reminded me of a great aunt’s kitchen and the colour of rail tracks
in a painting I admired by Soutine. Other pieces are more obvious to
me in their resonance, such as the bone handled knives which
belonged to my Scottish grandmother. |
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It can be an objects’ shape and form that
catch my eye and I impose human characteristics onto them I suppose
; a sensual curve of a cup handle, a mischievous edge of a knife, a
laughing jug. I see them as individuals, and just as humans behave
differently on their own and in groups, so too do these objects when
brought together in one painting. The canvas becomes the plane for
them to exist in and converse with one another. And once in paint,
their existence has a permanence. |
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I mostly work from life and occasionally
from drawings and memory. I hope you enjoy looking at my work and if
you would like to discuss any of the paintings in greater detail I
would be happy to hear from you. |
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