I am carrying on with my studio still-life studies. Originally I was going to take a no frills approach and keep it pure and simple. However as I look and as I work, I find it impossible to do so. Embellishment and elaboration start to creep in. The more I look, things suggest themselves to me in the form, the decoration, the interplay of light and shadows and the space in which the objects sit.
Having photographed the objects, playing with the digital photographs bring new possibilities. Cropping an image, focusing on one key bit can change the dynamics dramatically. I enjoy slicing up the space and introducing new shapes and shades of colour for no other reason than I can.
Sometimes it a matter of looking at the pattern within the shapes that I see, simplifying them, repeating them, manipulating them. Or it might be an intricate piece of detail on the surface of the objects I want to emphasise.
I’ve been specifically working on a series of very small works (5 inches square). Starting from the point of stretching and preparing the canvas, these small works are like little objects themselves. I transferred my manipulated photos onto them ready to start painting on the surface.
It’s easier to work on an image that has been changed quite dramatically digitally first than one where its remains true to the original source. It becomes something else in which I can study its properties and apply further transformations with paint. This introduces new aspects to explore. It creates a kind of mobility and physicality to the work.
I don’t like to think about it too much. Playfulness and experimentation is important. I’m working in a relatively small studio space but I find my work often ends up evoking places and patterns from other countries – places I have travelled to or want to travel to. These works become in a sense my way of being somewhere else.
