Stolen Time 90

Stolen Time relates to many things: the lockdown as well as the gift of time, as the whole world was forced to pause. The pandemic itself was and still is stealing its way through humanity, person by person. Some it passed through quickly, some it killed and some it has left very ill indeed – time taken, life shortened. But there was an upside to this time in the focused privacy and the haven which the studio became. Painting itself is a bringing down; creating, one throws oneself forward into the future, away from habit and conditioning. There is an ecstasy to this series, a sense of drama and otherworldly visits – uncanny and essential.

I experienced these paintings like visitors - their presence was there with me rolling in like the rhythms of a great tide.

This piece was made using fine Italian linen, a beautiful surface (I’m never sure if I want to wear it or paint on it)! Here I took a selection of various greys and used the varying viscosity of layered paints to overlap and catch the different tones. Light and dark elements created a spatial ambiguity which bodies forth in the lower half of the painting. The black and magenta elements create a sense of the plain and pictorial depth which the greys at once undermine, creating an illusion of three dimensionality. These spatial ambiguities chime with our uncertain times. The piece has been created by the build up of fluid and viscous layers and brought to conclusion with glazing and dry brush work.

Image credit: Richard Heys