Inspiration for abstract art
I'm the person who will stop in the street to admire the beautiful patina of an old wooden door, a crooked window frame, a broken down fence and the way one slat has fallen and juxtaposes the next.
I notice meticulous details and my eyes quickly make sense of found compositions which are pleasing to me.
Nature provides me with an abundance of inspiration as do people, relationships, buildings and seemingly mundane objects such as glass jars filled with paintbrushes which offer me interesting lines to explore.
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Beach walks and foraging also fill up my creative cup and I'm forever in awe of nature's colour palette.
Colour stories
I'm drawn to muted palettes and earth tones, the washed out and the faded.
Desaturated colours conjour up feelings of age and histories like you find with old fabrics, they're worn looking but rich with sophistication, depth and meaning. I enjoy their softness and the harmonies they create.
From greens and greys to ochres and pinks, I use an abundance of tones across my practice but favour a limited palette for individual paintings. Too many colours overwhelm me, I find freedom within limitations.
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Although my preference is for a muted and limited palette, I love to see the odd pop of bright peeping through, a flash of turquoise against a fading magenta or the saturated blue boat against the neutral tones of the sand get me every time!
I often begin my paintings by throwing everything down (almost with wild abandon!) including brights and saturated colours as an underpainting, knowing that the majority will be covered and also knowing there's the chance that some won't be covered and will be left to peep through as the painting builds.