IN CONVERSATION
‘An eye catch’
‘The magical transforming qualities of light have always been my focus; this is what inspires me to paint, so when I’m looking for a subject, I look for the play of light and shadows, or a set of interesting shapes and colour relationships. There has to be what Sickert called ‘an eye catch’. This can, for example, be just a moment in a day that reveals something.
‘Compositions are arrived at by investigation. I start exploring a subject with small oil studies or drawings in my numerous sketchbooks. Eventually I arrive at the composition that feels right. In the studio with still-life or interior subjects, objects are moved, taken out and added as the painting evolves. I paint things in and paint things out, until I reach a balance that feels right. Then, depending on what I am painting and where, I choose a starting point. Quite often this can be a moment when a sunlit area catches my attention, or a particular colour relationship that to me is beautiful.
‘I like to paint my small pictures on good-quality boards, which I prepare myself with Roberson gesso primer. I used to make my own egg oil emulsion but found it too time-consuming and the surface a bit inconsistent. I always work in oils these days. I launch straight in with areas of colour and draw with the colour, rather than any other drawing implement. I sometimes delineate, finding the main shapes and directions, prior to building areas up, but usually this goes in tandem with marking out the entire composition. I never know how it will turn out, and one thing leads to another. I do have themes that repeat, but every time I paint the same theme, something different happens. Nothing is ever exactly the same.’
Work in progress
‘Size-wise, I work from 836in up to 60348in and bigger, but I have limited space in my studio! The golden rule I always follow when painting is fat-overlean and, with this in mind, I always start with diluted washes of colour and gradually lay on thick impasto. I use a large number of brushes from small riggers to big flat hogs. To dilute my paint, I use genuine turpentine with a little linseed oil added. My mid-size paintings can take several sessions before things get anywhere. Outside in the landscape I work in three-hour sessions, changing pictures between sessions. Indoors, working on stilllife or interior scenes, I do much the same, depending on the limitations. Sometimes the sessions can go on much longer. I always have several pictures on the go at once. This can be a problem, for instance when flowers wither away, but I seem to manage.
‘Going back to composition, I always try to place my main focal point and first set of shapes on my canvas early on, to give me a rough idea of where I’m going. I work in areas of colour and draw with the paint, trying to have an idea of the whole surface. The edges of the canvas are very important, where shapes touch the edge or lead off or where things stop in relation to the edge, and I always use the same palette of colours.
‘The colours I use are artist-quality oil, Winsor & Newton, Michael Harding and Old Holland. I use three blues – cobalt, cerulean and French ultramarine; three reds – cadmium red, cadmium scarlet (vermilion) and permanent rose; three yellows – cadmium yellow, pale yellow and lemon yellow hue; permanent green deep, titanium white, lead white and three earth colours – raw sienna, burnt sienna and raw umber. In addition, I sometimes bring in some
guest colours when needed – peach black, Prussian blue, king’s blue light and Indian yellow.
‘Sometimes pictures are concluded in one session, especially when on location and working with the sun. Larger pictures made on location can take three or four sessions. On occasion, I’ve returned a year later to the same place and time of day to carry on with a painting I had started. In the studio, still lifes and interior subjects can go on and on until I don’t know what to do anymore. Then they get rested. Resting a picture, with its face to the wall, is very important and never spending more than three consecutive days on the same subject is always a good idea. Knowing when to stop is instinctive and sometimes it just feels right to stop.
‘I don’t usually enter competitions, but I’ve been very privileged in being awarded prizes for my work. Similarly, I rarely work to commission. I have painted some but find the process less enjoyable than painting more freely, because there’s always the psychological pressure of the client and what he or she wants. I can’t imagine how great artists such as Velázquez, Goya and the like managed, but then they were truly great artists!’
‘I always try to place my main focal point and first set of shapes on my canvas early on’