ISM: Mixed media / Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 inches, £700.00
When did this compulsion to make art start - how does it manifest itself? I can remember drawing from a very early age and spending school holidays just sat on my own with a WHSmith pad and pencils. I couldn’t really say when it started; it’s kind of always been there. I used to think it was something normal everyone could do, like reading and writing. Do you always know when to stop - know when you have achieved the result to strive for? Do you know when it is time to leave a picture alone or do you want to go back to it and amend/add/swap things around again and again? I pretty much always know when a picture is finished. I refer to it as a ‘click’ or ‘locking the picture’. At that point, I know there’s nothing else I can do to the image. Most of the time, I like to make mistakes at the beginning which I have to constantly try to correct; it’s quite liberating not having to worry about being perfect. The thing is, I never want it to be perfect; I want the truth. Trying to explain it is strange but I just do what the picture needs me to do and try not to let my ego get in the way of what’s emerging. If I ever go back to a painting or an image, it’s usually to completely erase it and start again, on the backs on a lot of my canvases you’ll see a few crossed out titles from previous paintings. I also get bored quite quickly of the latest thing that I’ve done and it ends up facing a wall somewhere in my flat! Once that feeling of completion has worn off, I have to start the whole process again, like a weird addiction!
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