Clouds in my mind

This is a cloud painting I’m finally getting close to finishing. I guess when something is “finished” it has officially run out of potential? Maybe that’s why I’m dragging my feet these last few weeks. I am trying to wrap up a number of paintings… Of course I have to start some more to keep the wheel turning.

I’m also attaching a photo I took last night. I was thinking this particular corner of the studio had a lot of interesting things happening. It isn’t the “landfill” style of decoration I have used around the rest of the space. Anyway just got nostalgic looking at objects representing the last 6 years or so. One of the last crazy Halloween masks I made was in the shot along with paintings and show flyers. I did a terrible job framing the shot but it was good enough for Instagram!

Shadows in the Light

Shadows in the LightThis is an atmospheric painting I have just been working on. Working with thinly applied paint with very little opacity. I blend and remove paint while it is still wet and try to work out a sense of shadow and volume. It is an exciting and odd method of working that can help create that haunted forsaken feeling that seems to be my endless goal. I struggle not to overwork the image, it is incredibly difficult to find a balance between not enough and overwrought (it turns out too much is never enough! is nonsense 1980’s MTV!). I continue to create a large body of unfinished work. Ultimately I need to step up my game so that I can put together a proper show by late March.

R.I.P. David Bowie

Heaven Knows

Clouds, the mighty transporters of water, are a beautiful presence above. Morphing and shifting they are never the same from moment to moment. Casting darkness as they steal the sun’s light they set the tone, create a mood. There is a meditative quality to clouds, something primitive and soothing. To me painting clouds creates that same hypnotic feeling, I hope the result echoes the creation.

The Boatman

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This was one of a black bird series I was working on a few years ago. Part of that time period where I was creating paintings in unstable ways and letting them crack, run or erode. I liked the idea of a paintings forming with me just guiding the process. I have completely changed the way I paint a number of times since then but it is interesting to look back.