ARTIST STATEMENT I began painting on wood because I wanted to change the rules of exhibition. Wall art is predominantly exhibited within a rectangular frame and for some time my mind was occupied with questions about how to resolve this problem. One day I saw a huge felled tree at the roadside and realised immediately that I could paint my compositions on natural wood forms. The following week I went to the mountains and bought a cedar tree, had it transported to the sawmill to have it sliced vertically and horizontally to provide me with a rage of irregular shapes to use as my 'canvas'. Then I had the wood dried, sanded, treated and prepared for painting. This process took about 18 -24 months. In 2010 I began to paint on these natural wooden shapes. All woods are primed and undercoated, some are covered in canvas before painting, others painted directly onto undercoated surface. In most of these works I employ my Turkish Whirling technique contrasted in some cases with a built up rough texture using canvas or paper. I developed this technique as a new style of oil painting. I did this by adapting the forms of traditional Turkish marbling although my technique is entirely different. I paint because there are many things I want to express about what's going on in the world. The world around me provides endless ideas and materials. My works begin with a feeling or idea based on something I have experienced or observed. My studio is a space to think and as the artwork develops I mix my ideas and emotions into the paint to translate them into a visual language.