My current practice is in the area of portraiture. My work addresses this with particular emphasis on the elements of drama and composition, and how these can be brought together and united into an artistic whole.

My current interest is in portraiture of older people, a subject full of poignancy and atmosphere. While avoiding any sense of mawkishness or excessive sentimentality, I attempt to both capture and provoke emotion.

I illuminate my subjects using a variety of techniques, compositional devices and from a variety of angles to achieve different moods, including the chiaroscuro effect so successfully employed in the past. From an historical viewpoint, my painting references, in particular Caravaggio and Reubens, and from a contemporary perspective, primarily Euan Uglow, as well as Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach.

My practice is a diverse mix of media, from photography to drawing with pen, pencil, charcoal, pastels, also, painting in oils, tempera and watercolour.

My preferred source when approaching a painting, is to work directly from life, but I also work from drawings and photographs. I also employ combinations of photos and memories. Achieving a 'likeness' is not one of my main concerns; rather it is a consequence of the process of careful and accurate representation of the subject. It is my intention to both evoke and depict.

In creating a portrait, I respond to how the piece is developing, and allow it to evolve according to my personal engagement with it. This allows for a personal involvement with the original subject, an acknowledgement of the human, subjective connection between artist and subject, and by extension that of the engagement of the viewer.

PROPOSAL

The project I am working on at the present time is a collection of portraits of members of the local community, in various media but primarily oils.