Story behind the work: ‘Within the Leaves’

‘Within the leaves’. 2021. Oil on oil paper.

The process of this stream of consciousness painting was intuitive and quick in terms of creating the composition. Using a felt tip pen filled with Indian Ink the composition and subject matter manifested itself line by line, shape by shape.

My favourite part was her full round belly. I take great pains to create smooth lines and shapes with my work, finessing them with a fine tip brush if need be until they feel right and inline with my own aesthetic tastes - I find it difficult to articulate what those tastes are exactly as it is more intuitive rather than an inflexible rulebook. I have noticed that I am drawn to interesting twists in composition and articulating the figurative with the abstract e.g. a new way of indicating the image of a foot with shape (in this artwork I really like how her left foot is drawn), and confident and clean lines.

The part in the process that is the most labour intensive is the selecting of colours. Like the composition which is either pencilled or inked in with these stream of consciousness works, the colours are chosen one after the other - the next choice responding to the effects of the last colour placed. It’s also in the act of “colouring in” I get to choose which sections of the painting recede and which come forward through shading and using dark or light colours and I can have fun playing with perceptions of perspective and blurring what is what. For example, by choosing green and using different shades in this artwork the shape curving away from behind her head could double as a leaf or her hair, or both.

ABOVE LEFT: Artist in studio whilst the artwork was in process. At this stage Mars Black mixed with Liquin Original was being used to define shapes and shadow.

ABOVE RIGHT: ‘Within the Leaves’ styled in situ.