Artist Statement

“Frustrated with the lack of any clear direction to follow in contemporary painting and looking for a medium that would celebrate clarity and skill, I hit upon watercolour. It may lack the depth you get from oils and it betrays the hesitant, but on the flip side it's crisp and best of all deeply neglected.

Back peddling is not an option and it's this unforgiving nature that, unless you're careful, forces the watercolourist towards over-planning and detail. I'm keen on the idea that was so crucial to Chinese painters and calligraphers alike, that the fluidity of a brush stroke can reflect the clarity and concentration of the mind.

It's my hope that my work might draw on my admiration for these ideals and in some way maybe even form a link with the English tradition of watercolour. I'm not, however, trying to pay homage to either and it's hopefully plain that my paintings attempt a new direction bringing a bit of Western boldness to Asian simplicity.

As far as the subject of my work goes, I have tried to approach it with a similar clarity as I have the technique. For me the two need to coexist for a painting to work and to avoid the all too common practise of being concept heavy. Broadly speaking I attempt to reflect the human predicament. 'The Individuals', for instance are united by a common scale and form, though by isolating them we pick up on their particular nuances and are unaviodably drawn towards categorising them according to our own view. The birds differ in that their individuality is harder to recognise. Instead we rely on associations we have of them, whether from popular culture or simply in classing by colour. In both cases I have attempted to question these commonly held distinctions.

For the large part my subjects are removed from their context and painted simply against the whiteness of the paper. Obviously canvasses are painted before work with oil colours begin so you don't get the same degree of satisfactory material rawness. In this sense I find that letting the subject dictate the boundaries of the image allows it a greater presence whilst not attempting a complete painterly illusion. Again I'm conscious here of parallels with Chinese art and similarly I'm after that balance of using the material's natural strengths to help get the image across in the most economical way.

Being self contained as my subjects often are, not only helps focus to be drawn towards their inate qualities but also lends it a kind of solitary grandeur. Scale is very important in this respect and I try to play with expectations as much as possible.

Although standing alone is important, as in life, we are more often than not grouped together and as such judged. This 'Context' is the final and key component of the work. A certain painting might take on different aspects depending on what its seen with and in this regard most of my paintings are part of a group. Deriving their original meaning in this context and to take on another when they find their new homes.”