Inspiration and Reflections
AN ORIGINAL APPROACH TO PAINTING FOR A THEMED ART COMPETITION
You need to be able to return to the painting and see it as though it is not your work otherwise the likely outcome will be to follow the same dead-ends as before.
JONAH AND THE WHALE
This particular painting has been through a process where the main theme and composition was established in a small oil sketch. From there it was developed...
THE LAST OF THE NOMADS
"Perhaps it is partly this that drives us to be creative: the sense that what could be made is more than we can make, and more than we can think of."
I AM YOUR NEIGHBOUR
HEROD AND SALOME
Once in my studio, the question was ‘what kind of brush strokes will admit to guilt and regret’...
THE SPOILING OF JOSEPH
Painting is about thinking and being. It is part of that process whereby we re-form our experiences into significant images.
I AM THE VINE
A painting that is getting stuck and winding down, becoming sluggish and hopeless, is all too familiar. The final result, if it survives the painter’s disappointment at all, is a contrived embarrassment.
THE VISITATION
"I believe that in all the arts, meaning that is found is not just the discovery of meaning that has been put in by the artist..."
THE CRUCIFIXION
I can’t remember when it occurred to me to use Psalm 22 for imagery in a painting of the crucifixion, but the extraordinary nature of this psalm comes as it were, from within the suffering, confronting us with naked humanity rather than processed tradition.
JOB
The book of Job is found in the Jewish scriptures; the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It is written in the form of a drama that is set in Heaven and on earth. Job is a good man, wealthy and happy with a large family, but then disaster strikes. The suffering that Job endures raises questions about his life and faith.
THE REFLECTION OF HIS GLORY
THE PAINTER’S SOAP-BOX
For a long time I had resisted the idea of depicting angels on the grounds that they represent a now unfamiliar way of understanding the world.
The image ‘The Dream of Jacob’ is reproduced from an oil sketch inspired by the familiar Bible story of ‘Jacob’s Ladder.’ As with much biblical writing, distant events and characters confront us with our own story, offering the chance to identify our experience in a context that is not merely personal.