Finding the balance between the two worlds of words and paint. There are times words are necessary. They are useful to commit, to reassure, to remind, to inspire. Of course there are many more reasons to write and speak what you are thinking. Like roots they grow and mature and each tendril reaches out further to a new idea. Flying solo, alone in the studio words float. They come and go as I work. The internal thinking is ever present but the discussion is absent. Social media is a form of communication. Visual artists mostly sharing images hoping that people can read in-between the brush marks as to what you are thinking. Perhaps this is never fully understood? How can it be?
During my solo at The Scottish I was offered the wonderful opportunity to speak about my body of work, my thoughts and experiences, to speak openly about the source of my work. Indeed a privilege which has enabled me to believe a little more. The studio discourse becomes louder and more sure, for a while. Words fall away again as the painting resumes and gathers momentum. A hazy intention, like the pale sinking in early January, of finding the fugitive. Then it becomes just about the paint. Just paint.
