Into the Unknown

3 February 2019

Week one

My first week sprouted no less than one hundred oil paint sketches. It was a number which I never expected to produce so readily. I was working in the zone and found it easy to enter. Working prolifically has usually suited me well. My early work was prolific in nature even though they were all quite detailed. I work quickly but surely, always have, it’s a connection to the medium,  pushing it to the limit.

Working through so many oil sketches early on in the term has opened me up to the incredible possibilities a two dimensional surface has to offer. The seemingly limitless possibilities, tone, composition, colour, support dimensions and ratios, detail and many more elements involved really brought home the wonder of art.

The Impressionist’s attitude to painting inspired my early work as I have been interested in many of them all my life. The spontaneous, all in one sitting approach helped me through the early stages of learning to paint. Sometimes it is hard to know when a painting is finished. To put a limit on how long you can paint for is often helpful. I would usually paint until the light changed significantly, as I was painting in the open air.

My imagination is on fire. I dream night and day. I live and breath this world. It is an escape, and intellectual exploration.