My recent work directly responds to my time spent creating work in sub-zero temperatures in Iceland. Working in graphite, charcoal and liquid inks without gloves at -20 degrees forced me to distil my marks into their purest forms whilst still retaining my emotional reaction to what I was experiencing as an artist. I also used found materials, such as sand, basalt, and snow, on raw canvas in the landscape to create temporary performance paintings that inspired further work in my studio.
There is a strange juxtaposition when compelled to work so quickly in an environment that is so inherently slow and silent. The cold slows everything down in the landscape; the way the snow falls, waterfalls stutter and icebergs grind to a halt completely contrasts the human instinct to quicken.
I love the physicality and surprising nature of oil paint. I apply layers upon layers, using gravity and the natural behaviour of paint to build up the surface until the painting teeters on the edge of destruction, and then I excavate. This constant push and pull, allowing some elements to survive whilst deliberating destroying others, creates depth, space and balance within the painting. I use a limited palette with many variations of white and often repeat dotted marks to create rhythm across the surface of the paintings that are haunted by echoes of construction underneath. The archaeology of the creation of the work is always present in the finished pieces. I desire to seek balance within each painting, integral to Taoist philosophy, reducing the frenetic initial painterly surfaces to their purest distillation.
Standing at the foot of frozen waterfalls, glaciers containing air bubbles from thousands of years ago and within vast expanses of white snow planes on the Sandur, with no evidence of humanity, was like stepping out of the physical and into the intangible. This new body of work presents my emotional response to my fear of Iceland's extreme conditions, subtle colours, the quality of winter light, and boundless dark skies.
As an artist, I am on a continual quest to explore the connection between the inner and outer landscape. Each painting is part of a larger continuum firmly rooted in nature and the sublime