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STUDIO PRACTICE
My Inspiration
My inspiration comes from a love of the outdoors and searching out our connections to the land. I am lucky to live in such a beautiful part of Scotland where there are beautiful coastal areas as well as endless woods and mountains to explore.
My practice is process driven in that it is only by working with the materials that my ideas develop. I take lots of photographs, make drawings, explore with printmaking, collage and mixed media.
Below are some of the pieces I recently created in my studio.
I often start by playing with materials, maybe trying a new technique or a different set of colours or even working on top of old work. Working with uncertainty, although terrifying, does support the creative process. It feeds a need to look for new ways to express my responses to the environment. I like to work in a series which helps to develop the work. I paint with acrylics because I find them versatile and they work well with other media.
Recently I have returned to painting and work intuitively to create images which are abstract expressions of my observations and inner world. The images are unearthed slowly through a process of continually applying paint, scraping back, and reapplying until eventually something (hopefully) magical, surfaces amid the history and traces of what has gone before.
I continue to enjoy experimenting with monoprints and collage and love the way that I can develop the images through layering and mixing techniques. Often I find myself reaching for the sewing machine, using it as a drawing tool and feel that it gives a special quality to my drawing and markmaking.
‘The important thing is to create. Nothing else matters; creation is all.’ Pablo Picasso
Studio Practice: Musings & Thoughts
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