Stolen Time 1

Stolen Time I came about as a result of the pandemic and the first lockdown. This is an angry painting – I was angry at the news of all the deaths, and the cruel practices of the wet markets. It started out as a joyous piece with many yellows, bright orange, teal and light blue. But as the process of the pandemic became more obvious to us my painting process changed, affecting what I was doing. I was making a painting so I wasn’t consciously trying to make an angry work, but the piece became darker and darker. Dark red and then transparent magenta were the last elements added.

So I guess this painting plays off both the uncertainties and my fears of what might have been going to arise. My fears and not-knowing, in terms of whether or not Covid was survivable by myself and my loved ones, can be seen as a sense of a wave breaking over the world, which is flickering in those furious broken reds covering all the light and playful colours. A serious threat was coming our way.

The piece is principally made by squeegee and brush work and in the final stages of the painting there were lots of areas of glazing and retouching to unify the surface of the painting.

Image credit: Richard Heys