Why i paint

Chairs....

Back in my student days, living in a shared house in the Forest of Dean, there was a chair in the kitchen out of place and unused. It sat there alone with it's paisley cushion seat and upright back. One day the sun poured through the blinds and slitted sunshine laid across its fabric seat. It's beauty struck me. In my first year at Cheltenham Uni, doing a Fine Art Painting and Drawing degree, I took this chair as my subject and observed it in the changing light. Under the spot light, shadows fell on the white wall behind, that looked like angel wings. I painted this chair morning, noon and night. The more I looked at it, the more I saw. I enjoyed the quietness of the chair, its generous and patient nature; always offering a seat, always changing,. I enjoyed this reflective time with an object often over looked. There was a meditative quality to this practice and this was shared with an object, which provides comfort and a seat for the act of rest and refection. Through my degree I painted chairs, projected chairs and printed chairs and they have featured in my work ever since.

Pairs of Chairs... I remember a conversation with a friend many years ago about the ancient Chinese practice of Fein Shui. In the context of the home, inanimate objects can be arranged to enhance the flow and overall wellbeing of the house and it's inhabitants. I learnt that arranging objects in pairs in the home can enhance relationships by promoting equality, unity, and balance. This led to chairs pairing up in my work. Sometimes I paint from observation and sometimes from memory. In my attempt to create space for reflection in my paintings, these memory chairs, archetypal in their image, return to their simplest forms. Often chairs have only 2 legs and sit side by side, merging a leg sometimes with their closest partner.

When solitary chairs are the subject, they tend to pair up with their shadow or a vast empty space in front of them. The concept of pairing is always alive in my work and nods to common thoughts on the interconnectedness of all things.

Objects of human measure... such as baths, beds and doors become the subject of paintings. I am curious how objects made for us, by us, although being inanimate, retain a human-like presence. These objects and their symbols; beds for rest, doors for transformation, walls and their limitations, relate to both interior domestic spaces and their doubles, the psychological spaces they can reveal.