After 20 years of persistently painting I finally feel more rooted, and can hear and dialogue with other people’s views whilst a piece of work is still in progress; and also I’m finding myself increasingly open to new, surprising ways within myself of looking at/thinking about painting.
I showed work in progress to some fellow painters recently. As usual, there were around fifteen unfinished canvases in the studio. Until now I’ve been very wary of showing and discussing unfinished work with anyone (even my family): I think I needed to search so hard inside myself for the thread that leads the way in the process of making a painting, and this thread was very, very delicate and too liable to be blown away or off-course by someone else’s views. But now I find myself more able to hear and respond to the thoughtful, inventive, and invigoratingly challenging reactions of my peers.
