Fences

I started these paintings in February 2021

On my jogging route I pass a fence that has been patched up many times there is wire and barbed wire on it and this particular time the sun was low in the morning sky and hit the fence revealing much of its imperfections and textures.

I took some photos of the fence and it sparked off a series of paintings.

Very different to the last series of paintings I had been working on, this series just became about the appearance of the fence, the colours, textures and layers.

I began by preparing some MDF board by cutting into squares and coating with white gesso.

Then, I took the photographs of the fences and set them around, I didn't want to specifically to copy them straight off so I analysed the colours using a limited palette of Cadmium yellow, Alizarin crimson Ultramarine with some Paynes grey.

I used a old map to create a collaged texture on the boards first, then working on the floor I made marks using a broad brush and just keeping in mind the layers of wooden fence posts.

Taking colours in turn, I worked on the boards together at one time. I used extender medium to create transparancies and glazes, then letting the layers dry before applying the next one. I enjoyed working into the glazes while still wet using a brush handle to make marks.

Eventually, I took each board in turn and responded to the marks to develop each one into an individual abstract image. 

I enjoyed the process of working on the series of paintings together, I enjoyed the use of transparencies and mark making.

While I was working on these I also developed images in my sketchbook as well. developing mark making on collage.

Some recent painting, acrylics and collage

Recent painting
July 2020

During the Lockdown I have had more time to work on my art but I haven't been able to go to the studio until recent relaxing of the Covid guidelines.
It has been great to get back into it and I have found myself working in a kind of spurt again.

I have been working on collage and acrylic painting.
Trying to internalise the images of the corroded wood and abstracting rather than copying the photographs.

I have worked onto collage as a substrate and built up layers of paint using transparencies

1, Acrylic paint on collage

Detail (1)

2, Acrylic paint on collage.

3, Acrylic paint on collage, watercolour paper.

Detail, (2)

Detail (2)

Detail (2)

                                                                  Detail (2)

4, Acrylic paint on collage

Detail (4)

Recent Acrylic painting

Rust, Acrylic on monoprint

Detail

I have been working on the theme of eroded and decaying surfaces for some time now and I have been enjoying using colour and mark-making.

The images are taken from photos that I have mostly taken myself whilst walking but sometimes just from the Internet. The kind of things that catch my eye are eroded paint surfaces, rich textures and painted woodwork.

I like to work onto a ready dragged surface sometimes of arbitrary colours while I work over with transparent glazes or opaque layers. I also find I enjoy working onto surfaces that have been collaged from a few previously dragged pieces of paper as I make selections of the areas that I respond to or as they relate to the subject I am focusing on.

Although the subject may be flat and without perspective, I am creating physical depth with the layers of paint, colour and texture and I suppose, a level of trompe l'oeil with the colour. The act of painting is important to me, the tactile sensation of applying paint and building up layers of mark making.

The images in this selection are all on paper that has been previously dragged with acrylic paint, torn and collaged, or monoprinted onto first.

 Barred acrylic on paper collage

Prow, Acrylic on paper collage

Slider plate, acrylic on paper collage

Folded, Acrylic on paper collage

Folded, Detail

Hinge, Acrylic on Monoprinted paper

Hinge, detail

New Life, New Painting

I am starting a new chapter in my life after 30 years of teaching.

These paintings have been on a back burner for a while and so I have spent some time dedicated to completing them. I feel that I am learning painting from scratch again and it has been a fulfilling experience for me.
Even so, it's probably a transitional phase while I complete unfinished business, try new things and see where explorations take me.
I am not sure where I want to be yet, but I am enjoying getting there.

 Slider, Oil on canvas

Cathedral Doorway, Acrylic on canvas

Latch, Oil on Canvas

Fragmentation, Acrylic on paper

 Fragmentation(detail)

Entry, Acrylic on paper collage

Add caption

Entry, (detail)

These images rely heavily on texture, layering up, paint over collage and observation of things seen. They are linked by their interest in doorways, entry, liminal spaces, forgotten and abandoned things and places.

I have enjoyed working onto prepared textures and collage and working with the accidental as much as the created marks.

Old railway carriage, Rothbury

This is one of a series of drawings that I have been working on for some time. I have used oil pastels mainly to build up a textured surface.

The railway carriage is on a hillside in Rothbury along a favourite pathway, it has been used for a shelter for sheep and it has been gradually decomposing over time.

I'd better get the drawings done quickly as one day there won't be anything left of it.