My Approach to Art
My Approach … is a very different one.
I love the idea of a multi-sensory experience when sharing my work. I invite people to touch the work, view it in multiple orientations by rotating it, and enjoy watching people’s reactions when they witness the surface images and colours change with the light.
The works have been given a simple ‘named’ title, only for reference purposes. I want the viewer’s engagement with my work to be an unhindered experience with no suggestion from me as to what is on the canvas – it needs to be a pure interaction between the viewer and the piece.
It’s not complicated; just feel what you see.
It gives me great pleasure to know that my creations seem to connect with people on another level. Using my unusual approach to sharing my abstracts, I strive to reach an audience that enjoys art, and also those who perhaps don’t, simply because they feel ‘it isn’t quite their thing’.
Art can be a world away from some people’s idea of pleasure, that’s why I want my art to be inclusive and connect with that audience too.
Touch It / Feel It
I had always invited people to experience my art using their sense of touch. The heavily textured grooves and shapes are fun to feel, and I create them with my flow of energy and desire to depict movement on the surface of my canvases.
This desire is what led me to create my Art Appreciation Workshop for the Blind and Partially Sighted.
Feel the surface, eyes open or closed and set your imagination free. There are no right or wrong interpretations – only what you think you feel. Everyone feels something different to the next person.
Rotate It
Early on in my art journey, when I finished a particular piece, I couldn’t bear to sign on the front of the canvas. I felt pain in disrupting what I had created; how could I scrawl my name anywhere on the painting without spoiling it, disturbing the flow or destroying the shapes and images?
So I only ever sign on the back of my works.
One day, I was messing about in the studio (again, very early on in my art career) and turned the piece I had just finished upside down. I was surprised to see a whole raft of new shapes and images that appeared. I have to point out that this was a huge piece (6ft x 5ft), so it was a large surface area and it made a huge impact on me.
The same thing was experienced with every rotation and it works with all my pieces.
See Colours Change
This is relevant to all my pieces that have a metallic sheen. I use a lot of metallic paints on my works because it gives me so many different options on the canvas but I didn’t realise the dramatic effect the changing light had on the works until much later.
I positioned one of my larger pieces near the entrance to our back garden while I was living in India. There were a lot of natural light changes during the day, and the stark alterations they made on the painting made me realise that this was another aspect I could share when inviting anyone to engage with my works.
When exhibiting, I always carefully position one of my paintings in a manner that can demonstrate the way the different colours jump out when the light is altered. This works with both natural and artificial lighting.
What’s in a Name?
All the works have been named but only for reference purposes. They do not convey any subject, detail or hidden meanings. As mentioned before, my inspiration is based on the flow of energy, colour and texture, which applies to all my works.
My wish was always to keep all my works ‘Untitled’. I worried that the second I named a piece, it would be the end of the story. Anyone looking at my abstracts comes from a unique perspective, different from the next person to view the same piece. That is why I want the interaction to be unhindered. Everyone thinks differently and they will be in their own unique frame of mind, meaning their reactions are likely to be different to those of the previous person who viewed the work.
However I could also not bear to have the pieces numbered or coded as that would be the only way to reference them. The only compromise was to give them traditional names.
Perhaps give the piece your own title. That would make me very happy!
Abstract Art is for Everyone
Art is available in many forms such as conceptual, performance, digital, and many more. It’s a real treasure trove of experiences to be had by anyone and everyone. However, I constantly come across people who feel alienated by some forms of art; whether they understand it or not, it just doesn’t appeal to them.
Some people may feel excluded because the modern contemporary art that is around at the moment isn’t their idea of art. It almost comes across as if one needs a full-on education in art to be allowed into the commonly perceived ‘exclusive art appreciation society’.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If you want, you can get into the in-depth, multi-layered interpretation of a square of red colour or a dirty unmade bed. If you like it you like it. There is a huge audience that enjoys and seeks out these forms of art – good for them; however, that is not what I am offering.
Have fun, lose yourself and feel happy!
I produce works that can be enjoyed on many levels and in many interesting ways: the colours, shapes, textures, your opinions on what the shapes resemble, how they change once rotated, and the way the colours transform with the light. You are welcome to actually physically feel the surface of the canvas, to experience the shapes, feel the indentations I create with my pallet knives and caress the long flowing lines that have many grooves to explore.
Feeling colour energies
Another aspect of my approach to to show people how to feel the colour energies, yes I said it! I regularly demonstrate, at events and workshops, the technique to actually experience the difference between warm energy vibrations from, say, a red or orange, and cool vibrations from perhaps a white or a blue. Having encountered the practice of Pranic Healing, I was astounded to learn that we can all physically feel colour energies. This is a whole other topic, and I have a lot to share with you…please visit my Commissions page to find out more.
Finally…
I have had the most amazing conversations while sharing my approach and my art with people across the globe, transcending language, age and cultural barriers. I really hope you too will have fun with my canvases.
With love…
