Paintings that came out of my trip to Cyprus are those pictured; Untitled I and Untitled II.
These were painted with consideration to the environment around me – see the pictures “Blue Doors” and “Kitchen”. This idea of using a dominant object amongst surroundings has been a pivotal stage for development for me. Since coming home, this has been a constant and most important theme.
I find that the form works very well as non-representative and as such I can focus on really getting to grips with the way that I can paint this.
Untitled III are two developed paintings based on the small painted sketches mentioned earlier. These took longer to produce, as I used very thin layers mixed with linseed oil in order to gain a very rich colouring and sense of depth. They will ultimately be part of a series.
I think there are endless possibilities with this form and endless experimentation ahead. Not all of them will be as aesthetically sound as the first couple, but the key to finding what works and what doesn’t is to keep on working.
In June, I spent the month in the studios in Cyprus at Larnaca and Paphos. Whilst there, I worked mainly on small scale using oils and pastels. Since returning home and developing some of the smaller sketches, I have realised that my interest is not what I am painting, it is the paint itself. Much like my first year at University, I favoured using oil paints and discovering their versatility and diverse technical applications.
The same is true for my final year. Because of the heat in Cyprus, I worked extremely quickly, using fairly thin paints with no linseed oil (to allow them to dry.) I liked the way this enabled me to build layers of oil paint, and now, working from the University studio, I am using a lot of thinned linseed oil in order to use oil paints in glazes, building up numerous layers of colour. Although this can be a very slow process, it is actually one I enjoy, enabling me to contemplate how the colours are reacting with each other and whether they work, what I need to do next and so on. The main reason I prefer to use thin layers is the depth and richness of colour that I can achieve, without having a highly textured surface.
