This is a question that seems to come from artists and non artists alike. I know I’m always fascinated by the process of others, and the premise behind my own teaching is always to focus on the how and the why as much as, if not more than {at least initially}, the what.
Paying attention to the clarity and insights process brings, and the questions it raises, are fundamental to what makes the final piece connect with the viewer.
I find that the deeper I know myself, my values, what feels True for me, the more specific and singular the work I make.
So how do my paintings come together?
The short answer is, it depends!
There isn’t a step by step process. I know that works for many artists, but for me there is always an element of unpredictability and chaos in the work that means I can’t - and don’t want to - pin it down too much.
At the moment, it looks roughly like this:
I work mainly on wood panels, sometimes on deep sided primed canvas. I don’t prime the panels because the rawness of the wood is part of both the story and the aesthetic of the paintings.
I also have various paint mixes of different consistencies in squeezy bottles. I mix them myself, sometimes with water, sometimes with airbrush medium, or both.
Typically, I’ll pour, splash, and throw the liquid paint directly onto the panel as a starting point. I’ve developed various ways of doing this to get the effect I’m after without controlling it too much.
Because the current work is about swimming and immersion in your environment, the application of the paint - like the use of wood panels - is as relevant to that as it is to the aesthetic of the finished piece.
I often intervene with one or both of my two favourite tools at this point - a Liquitex 3 inch brush, and my trusty Princeton Catalyst wedge, although I try to keep manipulation to a minimum or the immediacy is easily lost.
The tiniest nuance can mean the difference between what feels like a really successful painting and one that seems to fight me at every turn and quickly feels laboured.
Sometimes there will be several layers of this ‘liquidy’ part of the process. This can mean waiting overnight for the paint to soak into the panels and dry, or I’ll use wet on wet {or wet on damp} depending on the effect I’m after.
Once some colour is down, the painting starts talking to me, and I do my best to listen and respond while bringing my own intentions and ideas to the conversation.
The act of painting and drawing on the piece can be relatively quick; often the longest part of the process is the listening and considering. A painting can hang in limbo for weeks waiting for its final touches, and often other paintings made during that time will inform how that can happen.
While a lot of my process is intuitive and chaos driven, there are slower paced, more considered areas brought in by the hand drawn elements, like the plants and birds. This is intentional and part of expressing the experiences the paintings are trying to convey.
It feels like I’ve barely brushed the surface of how a painting comes together here, but hopefully this gives some insight into the process and the thinking behind it.
