I guess everybody has got things to say, and here I'll throw my penny's worth in the big pot. My interests being quite wide I maintain the right to comment on life, universe and everything, but I expect there to be a focus on art, nature and the creation of happiness. There, now I've said it: creation of happiness: is that possible? Isn't much art about showing how imperfect and fallible we are? Or about futility and absurdity? Am I being naieve?
When I considered going to art college in the Netherlands some 30 years ago it struck me that despite the pretension to free the students up there was a lot of conformity. As I was trying to break free from a conformist upbringing that was the last thing I wanted. Several studies and many jobs later I find I can't leave pencils and paint brushes alone, and am exhibiting work in many locations in the green county of Devon, England. And, as I am often overawed by the beauty of the landscape that I live in, I often express myself in that rather traditional subject: the landscape. I try not to make them twee, but a radical subject it ain't.... My fascination is with colour though, and playing with paint, and the miracle of starting with a white canvas and, after a few hours (or a little longer), stepping back and seeing a completed work in front of me. Magical! The same love of colour and contrast shines through in my abstract pattern work too. I have difficulty defining this work myself: is it mandala-like? Zen? Escheresque? Vasarely, Riley or even Mondriaan inspired?
Landscape, whilst it appears to be an old genre, was actually relatively frowned upon until the mid 18th century (unless as a back-drop to mythical or biblical subjects), then took off during the 19th century to become more suspect again with the modernists. I'd like to think though that I can continue a trail started by such great landscape artists as Rembrandt (sketches and etchings), Corot and Pisarro, and the Scottish colourists(Peploe, Cadell, Ferfuson). But I am also fond of the work by the "railway poster artists", such as Richmond and Wilkinson, particularly the flat, gouache-like application of colours with strong contrasts.
