ARTWORK

I rarely know exactly where a painting is going when I begin. That is part of the work. I build slowly through mark making, colour, layers and veils. Something appears. I respond. Sometimes I add. Sometimes I cover. Sometimes the most important thing is restraint and knowing when to leave something alone.

I am interested in the spaces where something is no longer what it was, yet has not fully become what it will be. My current series, Presence, has grown from that place.

There are moments in these paintings that are quiet and others that interrupt. A line may hold a field together. A small circle can suddenly carry more weight than I expected. A veil can obscure something without making it disappear. I am drawn to that tension. What is revealed, what remains underneath, and what asks to be noticed.

For me, presence is not about performance. I think of it more as an arrival. Not loud, it listens.

My life has moved through science, art, psychotherapy and education, and each of those experiences has shaped the way I notice and question things. I don’t want the paintings, though, to explain psychology, science or illustrate an idea. I want them to remain paintings.

When I know a piece is working, there is often a feeling before there is an explanation. Something settles. There is enough there, and enough left open. The viewer is free to stand with the work, notice what they notice, and have their own experience of it.