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My practice explores colour, texture, layering, and tonal values to create a suggestive visual outcome. I approach a painterly quality through the influence of personal experiences and provoking emotions in the viewer. I am fascinated by the process of gestural mark-making with mixed media. Researching existentialism and psychological analysis has led to the study of my identity through self-portraiture and abstraction.
Recently, I have experimented with abstraction and abstract expressionism to explore the act of mark-making and how this can be interpreted differently by each viewer. Reducing an image down to its simplest form allows the emotional value to control the output of the image and an overall explorative theme to hold the viewer’s attention. The ongoing theme of absence leads to the viewer being pushed to a focal point or a deeper analysis of the work they are viewing. I enjoy analysing the depth of an image and finding what I am drawn to, then reflecting on this to create a new image. The simplification of an image can become vastly spatial to the viewer through colour choice, forms and tone. I want to create a space on a surface that allows the viewer to explore beyond the initial imagery and find something new within that they are drawn to. I hope I can create a calming experience and the chance to engage the viewer’s mind to analyse my paintings.
My project this academic year has consisted of several experiments into new painting techniques and abstraction using acrylic paint and other mixed media approaches. I discovered that colour plays a big part in how we feel about our environment, and I wanted to work this into my paintings. I found an interest in my surroundings through different experiences and began reflecting on how environmental changes can lead to emotional responses. I questioned what would happen if I decided to simplify my surroundings through colour and how that would affect the emotional translation that I wanted to express. My current process has developed into painting colourful backgrounds that take the form of gradients or merging colours, then applying small paint marks in the same colours across the foreground of the surface, creating the effect of an environmental space. The colour palettes reflect my personal surroundings, where emotions have been provoked. I hope that the feelings I felt during each experience will translate to the viewer.
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