It has been interesting spending creative time with the new medium of wire drawing. Apart from really enjoying it, I’ve found that it has had an important effect on the painting. The wire sculptures had taken several weeks of thinking and construction which hadn’t been laborious at all but seemed part of a continuous flow of creativity. One structure led to another! But then I needed to get back to painting …
This painting came over a period of a week. It began with no preconceived plan and little attempt at construction. But I feel it is one of the most meaningful paintings I’ve done. There are parts of representation in there but these are positioned against abstracted images. The whole time I was painting, there was a need to hold back from painting flowers and the garden because that was not the thought which was driving me. The thought was always in the soundscape – the sounds of the beginning of new life , the sounds of the birds, the powerful sound of colour after the grey of winter…in essence, hope in these difficult times.
As I look at the painting I realise that all the hours spent on the wire studies were actucally hours spent emersing myself in the sounds of the garden. They weren’t an end in themselves, although I think some of them are quite beautiful. But they allowed a flow of ideas to come to the surface which took shape in the painting.
I also learnt the importance of using different media to stimulate ideas. Grappling with the wire and embracing a 3D perspective which was entirely new for me became a release for new thinking and all this is evident in the painting.
I have learnt so much from this painting experience. I love this painting …