I paint on the spot, in the field, and it's a field work that is open to the elements and senses. Not just the eye, but the hairs on the back of your neck, the smell of the air, the cold in your fingers, the direction of wind. The paintings aim to put the feel and atmosphere of a place into the picture, so that what you see is a re-presentation of what you saw and how you felt over the course of time you were there.
I've painted and drawn in pen and ink for many years, while also working as a poet and freelance writer. My first book, The Miniature Estate, was published in 1991, my most recent, The Rumour, in 2004. I am working on combining poems and paintings in a way that is not purely illustrative or reflective, in a series of poems and watercolours from Dartmoor.
I admire the one-stroke ethic of Chinese painting, that gestural power of expression, and that is an inspiration to my own field work. You have to make the right first mark. One of painting's magical pleasures is to summon up an image from, say, a single brushstroke. It's an approach that allows no mistakes, but happy accidents - that's another matter. |
