ARTISTS TALKING

# 2 [3 August 2007]

An interesting day for sure today. I visited a colleague in Gloucestershire who is working towards his PhD in Painting. To get an insight into a studio practice at that level was a particularly valuable experience for me. It's becoming increasingly clear to me is that the more contact you can have (speaking as an undergrad) with others working at and above your own level, the more sparks of inspiration, inquiry and impetus seem to appear.

The work I have produced so far has, I think, been lacking in a certain naivety. By that, I mean I want the paintings to have an essence of being raw, not over worked or convoluted but existing with something like an unhindered childlike freedom. I'm still working through these ideas so bear with me if my words are cluttered.....

The other major factor that is informing the paintings is memory. I'm part way through four paintings at the moment. Three smaller canvases and one which is six foot by four foot. All of the paintings are based upon memories I have from my home town of Barrow in Furness. I find the idea of relying upon thought and memories as subject matter a fascinating starting point; the fluidity and shifting nature of some memories means that to find a route by which a recollection can be realised in the physical, is a real achievement. Again, through my research I found a catalogue from a show by the painter Andrzej Jackowski, who also draws upon memory when fashioning his images. But the thing that has intrigued me is that Jackowski's work also possesses the understated style that I admire so much.

I have to say that I was pretty pissed off today when I returned to the studio in Worcester as the large canvas (that at the moment is a fairly vibrant pink) had lured 9 mosquitoes to their turpentiney deaths. Never mind, they brushed off easily. I'm eager to see what's going to happen with these paintings. Primarily because they are my first real attempt at seriously addressing memory through painting and secondly because I'm dying to try some of the techniques and approaches I saw in Gloucestershire today.

So yeah, a good day. But not if you are a mosquito I guess.

# 1 [2 August 2007]

Having finished the first year of my BA at Worcester, I was pretty eager to keep up the momentum I had gained while working through January to May. The second semester had been a real success and I felt that to simply walk away into a summer recess would be extremely detrimental to my practice and the discoveries I had made about my work and perhaps more importantly, how I work.

I had made the decision to paint. The modular nature of my degree course meant that different disciplines were sampled and students could then make a decision based upon what they enjoyed, excelled at etc. But painting was certainly not where I pictured myself when I started the course back in 06. Sculpture? Possibly. Ceramics? Maybe. But I never thought I had that quintessential 'something' that I believe true painters have. People such as Tom Hammick & Craigie Aitchison, two artists who make images that are saturated with vibrancy and honesty. Well, I think so anyway.

So with a few extra tutorials, after the second semester had finished (thanks J + P), I began painting with a studio to myself.

Safe to say that there has to date been some stuff I'm not particularly happy with, some work that has potential and some paintings that seem to simply want to be painted. I'm trying hard to push myself to drop any inhibitions I have about 'making a mistake' when the brush hits the canvas and when I do that, it seems that most of the interesting work emerges. I recently got hold of an essay by Roy Oxlade in which he discusses the merits of ‘real drawing' over good draughtsmanship. It's a really interesting read and made me rethink the way in which I draw, paint and make marks in general.

And it's not even the second semester yet!