My studio is in West Yorkshire. I am primarily self-taught with over 40 years experience. My early development as a painter began by studying some of the great paintings in the galleries up and down the country. This meant looking at these works quite attentively and on occasions making drawings. I had the same approach when looking at art books, making copies simply to learn how to draw.
I began painting seriously in 1976 and the main painters who influenced my early studio practice (although there were many others) were Rubens, Caravaggio, Titian and later Constable and Turner; then it was the French Impressionists and not forgetting Walter Sickert (British) who made a profound impact on me. Finally I saw the work of Auerbach and Kossoff which lead me into neo semi-abstract expressionism. They taught me to be more courageous in my approach to what painting could be. Kossoff’s work showed me how painting could be drawing and drawing, painting.
My primary source of inspiration is from observation and I have always given precedence to drawing. I find that for me drawing begins the intimate relationship between the subject and myself. The drawings are more than topographical they go beyond the representational as I seek for an expressive language to interpret what is before me. It is always a case of asking, “how do I do this?” Every painting is new and has a new approach.
Back in the studio I work from sketches or photos, this is the starting point, but as the painting develops it can be changed many times and then the drawings and/or photo is discarded as I work more and more with my feelings and response to the painted surface of marks and shapes. To me the painting can turn out to be a total surprise from how it began and I find I’ve created something ‘new.’ This all comes about because I paint quickly and do not allow myself time to think too much, because long concentration on a given area takes away from the fluidity of the making of the painting.
During the actual making of the painting I use a rigid kitchen knife to create furrows into the paint, which adds to the overall energies of the painting. I like to work wet in wet with quite heavy impasto gouging into the paint in order to add another dimension of expression to the paint. The thick paint texture is not to create a ‘look’; instead, by building up the paint I try to make something that works and that looks like a painting. It takes courage and a certain amount of risk to keep going even though it may look wrong. I continually work the painting as I do the drawings and I continually destroy and remake until something comes alive.
As a serious painter I am constantly looking for a way to express my warm feeling for Yorkshire, its landscape and its people.
I was a mature student at Bradford College of Art and gained my BA (Hons) in Fine Art (Painting), this was followed by a teacher-training course at Huddersfield University where I received my PGCE in Further Education.