“I paint therefore I am”. 

Just joking – but that aside, there’s an aspect to the above statement which is partially true. Painting is a form of therapy for me – it helps me connect to aspects of myself I don’t usually get the opportunity to access in the world, which is both challenging and safe (I can fail magnificently with painting and the consequences will be moderate).

I work non-painting jobs to survive and paint to see what might happen creatively outside of survival mode. The form this has primarily taken has been abstract since 1997, and abstract expressionism since 2013. (This changed in late 2019 and has again morphed in late 2020.)

Why abstract? Because any depiction of perceptual form became confining (and Nature was already doing such a wonder-filled job of creating stuff).

I try to paint what I don’t know and if I get too thinky about the work it gets boring and predictable. So I show up, do something and see where it goes. Inspiration happens sometimes (is nice when it does and often improves the work).

Within the abstract framework, the content I work with is the tension between colour, shape and composition. I do have favourite colours (orange and violet) but “lean into” colours I wouldn’t typically be inclined to for the sake of experiment.

The paint is mostly acrylic (with a foray into oils during 2018). The brushes are mixed (depending on the form of the work).

Primary inspirations? Some of Mark Rothko’s later paintings (the nuances of foreground coloured soft-edged blocks against the background); Willem de Kooning’s visceral painterly abstractions; Franz Kline’s bold brushy linear compositions; Tony Tuckson’s later works of sinuous white marks over colour on hardboard; Matisse’s lifelong experiment especially with colour. Also, Adi Da (spiritual teacher), for his profound transmission of the Divine, non-dual Mystery.