I dabbled in paint & the arts from early childhood, but like a lot of children, the possibilities of the creative venture as a career pathway, that is the arts, were drummed & drained out of me. For almost two decades I never revisited the idea of painting as its chronicles had been laid to rest.
Between 2005 & 2010, I remember at university walking past the art building & being in awe & fasciation of some of the art students' creations. With knowing a few of them I would get access on occasions to the facility, usually to hangout & eat £3 meal-deals – but the eyes. The eyes were always open; & oh, how they seemingly through private tours of flushed finished pieces & unfinished works; complete with the craftspeople, uncovered in their crafty craft’s, ‘crafting’, element, saw nothing & yet saw everything. Over those years, in hindsight, it had a resounding impact on myself. To state ‘a calling’, is too simplistic; it was really a yearning to comprehend, to feel, to be amongst, to go through, to be the ‘beheld’.
Later, much later, I found myself browsing YouTube & on my feed appeared an art resin ‘dirty’ pour. After watching the way in which the clusters of colours bloomed I was hooked, with no line & no sinker. Four hours later & into the small hours of morning, I found myself invoking art into me. After watching many abstract artists perform, & from that night onwards a fascination formed, developed, fastened & cemented into my subconscious to the point where I had to experience ‘it’.
The infamous Japanese artist Tomokazu Matsuyama stated in a documentary how he had become known as an artist with great range, that it’s a technique he’d learned to survive, & that it’s not a natural talent. I was, & am, determined to follow this ethos through, constantly evolving & learning, remaining the inquisitive.
So, on a faithful Saturday I went out to the local supermarket & local art supply store bought accessible affordable paint, basic brushes & some cardboard. & so it began.
Earlier pieces were literally a period of feeling out the paint under a brush & a palette knife, realising when to engage & when to refrain, how it ebbed & flowed, its reaction to pressure & its released tension, & how it rolled over itself in constant transformation. I started off with abstract pieces, trying different mediums, fabric, card, working with different things then upgrading as time went on. To more expensive paint, canvases & the exploration with new techniques & media. With the avenues boundless & the instilling of confidence, further fields yielded to my discovery.
For about a year & a half to two years I didn’t ‘need’ art. Until I experienced a family trauma. It was during that period of ‘going through’, for about another year, that art became therapy for me; a categoric necessity. The state of flow intravenously inserted the desired expectation to feel even; a still of equilibrium where all things became one, constant whilst present, with me, as I became one with the canvas & the stroke – unanimously.
I needed art to remain, ultimately, sane – in balance & accord. From this a challenge was accepted. I would set a precedent of growth, in that the next painting, the next piece would be better than the last, that I, as it were, would be better. From my days playing American football, it instilled the primacy that you’re only as good as your last game. Thus I pushed & was driven by this narrative & so quickly progressed into taking on more daring landscape pieces &, with abstracts, attempting to derive more from them by demanding more of the depth by which I was willing to indulge in their conceptual engulfing. How else do we stimulate evolution, if not by willing it?
So, over the ensuing two years, I have worked & continue to work on my craft amiably challenging & problem solving along the way. Whilst painting what I see, literally & figuratively, slowly building up an armoury of artistic tools. Spending time & patience tolerating the expense of deliberate commitment to my works & the liberating sensation of the gift of ‘presence’. One of the highest forms that you can bestow upon yourself, channeling the essence & extension of you.
So, in light of the above, I seek knowledge not achievements. I reject the application of more pressure than is required to maintain a promise that is impossible to keep. I don’t have it all my way to begin with, but I’ve also learnt that that’s okay. In art, & by the dominion of the legend Bob Ross, “there are no mistakes – just happy little accidents”. A constant reminder to myself, as with you, that my & your ‘light’ deserves more than to be stifled with frustration.
Alas, I hope one day, through my works, to share & to activate a stimulus, that I have within myself to inspire others in a wide spectrum of creativity embellishing a branding that, ‘you, as one, as we; you’ve got greatness in you’ & that we are all amazing artists we’ve just got to be willing to unlock it.
discover more…