Me Myself and I

One of my best paintings of 2011 was called "Me, myself and I" and for me it say a lot about the person I am today. This painting, which sold immediately, has inspired some much bigger and grander. I have just started to work on a painting that is 15 feet long (three panels of 5ft each). I intend that the whole painting will be covered with both people and their attendant animals, or is that the other way around!

Lots of my friends and family have already volunteered to be models and the tire is fittingly "All of us". Because the painting is so large I think it will take years to finish. However I will post images as I work so that you can see how it is developing.

This oil painting, now hanging in the Bath Gallery is 2" x 8", it fills the back wall.

Yesterday a wonderful man walked into my gallery. His name was Fil Straughan, a singer with a big voice and even bigger personality.

Remember Fil, my paintings stopped you in your tracks and late as it was you came in to ask about them.

Well no matter what I paint, my work is about passion, love and the belief that we can make things better if we try. I want my paintings to leave the viewer warm, happy and comforted.

Not knowing anything about music I listened to your Youtube video of "On my Knees" (now a firm favorite). I can tell you now that these paintings were created by a woman that has been, but is no longer on her knees.

By the way don't worry if you do not like the animals I am still doing
some traditional figures, for example, "Touch me in the Morning" just
needs a male model to complete the painting - any volunteers out there?

This painting is called "Nothing is ever simply Black or White" and I
think it says a lot about the contradictions of life. The figure is
being carried along in one direction but is steadfastly looking back.
We all look back at our past, but this often does not effect the course
of our future and its easy to get carried away by wild impulse.

So why the interest in zebra as a motif in my paintings? Well, zebra
are the ultimate prey animal, after all who has not seen pictures of
the Great Riff Valley with lions happily sitting down to a black and
white dinner? But zebra are also strong, brave and above all wild, a
well aimed kick from a zebra will injure or kill a lion.
For me a zebra is about contradiction and this is reflected in the
paintings, but I also love their graphic markings that can make for a
really strong visual impact.

For want of a better name I am calling my new collection of paintings
"Work in Progress" . The first painting, which is pictured here is
called "The Merry Merry Roundabout". It came about very simply, I was
moving some work in the gallery and just felt for a few moments as if
my life was on a round about, you know the feeling, on a tread mill
going around and around in the same old groove. So the painting just
popped into my mind. Of course I wanted to put a female figure on the
carousal horse - and no it's not me, but I wanted to do it in such a
way as to say to the viewer - well I'm stuck on this carousal horse,
but I'm going to have fun no matter what!
What does all this have to do with animals? Well, think about it - life
becomes a merry go round, a machine designed for fun and entertainment
- but a wooden horse has totally different connotations in a historical
/ mythical sense.

It is the custom to begin the new year by looking back to the last, and 2011 was a remarkable year for me in many ways. As my friends and family know I have been painting the female figure on and off since leaving collage, but in 2011 these figures started to take a new direction, almost by themselves. It's a long story, but I will try to be brief.

Working in The Bath Gallery gives me the wonderful opportunity to meet and discuss art with a very wide variety of fellow artists, painters and collectors. It was while assisting on a major sculptural project that I was inspired too think about man's relationship to the animal world, and in-particular how we use animals to express intellectual, spiritual or carnal beliefs.

Animals are woven into our history and mythology. They have always represented our gods, our demons, we refer to them when explaining ourselves and others. For example I am not ashamed to admit that I can be as "stubborn as a mule", or sometimes I am a "bull in a china shop". Where as my daughter is a "social butterfly" with the "grace of a swan". In using statements like these we are identifying ourselves with the animal world, but also em-dowering ourselves with there qualities.

Our fascination with the animal world starts before recorded time with the breath taking paintings at Chauvet-pont-d'Arc as just one example, but it also lifts us up to the stars, with animals being placed in the heaven's as our guardians and guides.

With these thoughts dancing in my head I started to paint and the following images are some of the results.