Selected for the 2021 ING Discerning Eye competition

This series of work came as almost a surprise to me. I have in the last ten years or so created many paintings. But, in the course of time, many remain incomplete, or left unfinished by the exhibition deadline, self-imposed or otherwise. Pieces fall between the packing cases, whilst moving from one studio to the next, or, when a large series of paintings come to an end. What does one do with these ‘forgotten’ pieces?

In-between Days VI started in this way, taking an abandoned canvas, reworking it so as to leave original areas of paint still visible, building layers and glazes, working with old and new. This is a most interesting and rewarding process, that which had been abandoned could be suddenly brought back into play, covered and revealed. In this process I saw a kind of pocket had been created, an intriguing recess within the paint layer. This added richness which otherwise would not be there, and would have gone unnoticed, this ‘in-between space’ seemed such a discovery.

The paintings in this series are made with oils and acrylic paint; occasionally I finish an acrylic with oils, depending on the thickness of paint and other issues. The viscosity and transparency of paint plays into the process, digging into and scraping back, glazing and re-enlivening surfaces, all mean that unsought colours and structures arise and that the painted surface remains volatile, image and surface vying for our attention in a most interesting and dynamic way. This polarity is an essential element in the making and appreciation of this work.

A friend once told me I make ’slow art’, I like this, she understood the need for time in ‘seeing’ into a painting, this for me is the “why” of painting; that a piece becomes more than the sum of its parts, in the act of seeing. It is as if a door opens for some while remaining firmly closed for others. An abstract image can shift in meaning from one day to the next, from one view to the next, from one viewer to the next.

The framed size of the painting is 40 x 32.5 x 5.5 cm