Hope

Artist Statement

Most of the works I create are pure imagination and intuition. I was trained as a decor artist and painted murals and tromp l’oeil for years but I quickly learned that topaint in the same manner in art did not satisfy me or give an outing to any of my creative impulses.

Through my development, I have found that sky and water are the best elements for me to translate my inner thoughts which I am unable to translate eloquently in words. I can be as abstract in the execution as I like and only use colourand tone and line to speak without being hampered by the burden of trying to accurately capture a ‘scene’.

My work generally will have no man-made objects or people in because I am creating spaces for the viewer to step into and complete with their own memories and experience and not dictate beyond a basic tone. Yet, I feel these spaces are strong and overwhelming in its elements to satisfy the senses without the viewer having to do any ‘work’. They can simply just step in and feel. Water and sky also fascinate me as it is ever changing. The use of brushes to soften lines and palette knife to add movement and ascents are done intuitively. To overthink a mark and plotting lines ‘just so’ ruins the spontaneity and freshness of the work for me. I feel if I make a mark loose but sure and leave it, it will still have a sense of moving ever changing as water and sky would. The work will not trap anyone in any one moment but always give the sense of being in motion.

My preferred medium is oil paint as I love the texture and luxury of a slower drying medium that affords me the time to explore glazing and impasto techniques with my trusted palette knife and brush. On closer reflection, I would have to say that my work is a subtle and maybe sometimes expressive mix of tonalism and luminism Colourfascinates and sometimes frustrate me and exploring the different pigments and manufacturing results is an added passion for the hours spent in my home studio. “in times when one can produce no great effect in the outer world, one should seek to shape the expression of one’s being in small ways” I ‘Ching 9, the image.