Statement

My paintings come from what seems like nowhere.  I don’t do preparatory drawings, use photographs or whatever.  At the start I have little idea what  will develop, except that it will be some sort of landscape. I use fragments of place, memory and experience to concoct a painting using layered applications and scraped removals. This method can produce some exciting effects which in themselves can impact the outcome.  Also at this stage I’m trying to sort out formal concerns without destroying the work completely. 

Forms appear and may be wholly or partly submerged again. In this digital world I need the work to show evidence of its making. Weirdly, I know when I can leave a piece alone - there comes a feeling of stillness as the painting seems to take on a life of its own, almost as if it wasn’t made by me.

Painting is a struggle but ultimately it’s a calming compulsion.  There may be ambiguity and unease but always there’s evidence of a human presence.

I experiment with different materials including graphite, charcoal, pastel and oil.  Acrylic is my chosen paint as fast drying time is essential. Each work is protected by a meticulous application of varnish.

’These paintings defy any sort of literal reading; even where there is a landscape within the picture it does not abide by the rules of the real world since here we are in a different landscape of the psyche’

Vanessa Lacey Irving Gallery Oxford