My Process
It starts with an idea, a beautiful reference image, or a feeling —a creative burst that longs to be imagined on the page. These days inspiration comes fast and furious—there is no time to sketch it out in a notebook or mock up a colour story on my palette. The vision needs me to breathe life into it, so I just begin.
Charcoal to paper, I roughly sketch out the form or figure. Next comes the under painting, loosely blocking in colours and values to define darker and lighter areas of the image. Then comes the fun part, layer upon layer of pigment. This part is akin to a dance —there is a push and pull that happens with every application of pigment. Pushing elements to the background, pulling elements to the foreground with cool or warm tones and soft or hard edges. Sometimes referred to as the “hideous middle” because a lot of play needs to happen to refine the vision.
Finally, it is in the small details and expressive and purposeful markings where the painting really comes to life and feels complete. This means creating areas of interest for your eye to hover and enough depth in the painting for you to be drawn in again and again.
...and sometimes it doesn’t work this way at all and the painting feels completely wrong, but that too is part of my process. Trusting my intuition and knowing that my unsuccessful pieces are just practice for the next beautiful thing. That pile lives happily in a corner of my studio reminding me that it is all about the journey.
