I am embarking on a new project, which is to create a body of work for a restaurant in Barbados, this work must reflect its environment, and also embody the spirit of the place. When embarking on a work like this, there is always the initial stage of pulling together ideas and inspiration, I will be looking for signifyers, things which signify for example colours, shapes, textures. So I will commence with in effect a story board, compiled of all things that visually make me think of Barbados, like, white beaches, turquoise sea, lush vegetation, and brilliant flowers. So to the sketch book without delay.

At the start of the year, I compile a list of aims and objectives, and keep the list in full view by my desk, it acts as a prompt to either complete or initiate tasks, for example one thing on my list this year was to find out how to upload images to my website, and happily that has been accomplished, and strangely I have wizzed through other items on my list, to the extent that I need to re-assess, and re write my aims and objectives for this year. This year is also it seems set on being a paperwork admin sort of year, so I have to use the carrot and stick method to keep me from rebelling, by allotting a set time for admin, and then allowed freedom to work on the creative  stuff. I need to also keep in mind the essence of my concept, so I do this by looking back on images of work completed. I will show an image of a panel not on my website which is called “Terrain”, it shows the amazing undulations and formations in the desert.

This week I am playing, a necessary thing for creative people to do, this creates space to evolve, to try new things, materials, methods,imagery etc. It is possible to become stale without the head room to move around, and sometimes a whole body of work can be inspired by just one thing, like a new type of paint, or a material which allows you to go places that have not been possible before, or even a new texture. It is good to try different combination’s of things, look for a new perspective, or scale, as they say in the advert, “size matters”, micro or macro.

Tectonic plates are very much in the news at the moment, and mostly for all the chaos their sudden and cataclysmic movement causes. My work looks at the effects of these shifts, and forces, and celebrates the amazing results’ for example, the fabulous folds of rocks in the Himalayas, the amazing contortions in the Grand Canyon, the birth of islands from volcano’s. The Earth is very much a dynamic and ever changing planet, and the forces of nature, make me feel humble in comparison.

It’s hard to come down from working on your creative vision, to having to think about, bank accounts and all the other stuff that goes with being self employed, and trying to find a balance. I tend to think of this “books and Bills” time as a kind of Hell that I have to survive before I can get on with the good stuff, at present I am resigned to having a miserable Monday, so bring it on, lets open the bank stuff and look at money out and money in(what money in?). OK that’s moan of the day, on a more positive note, I have reached the half way point in my current work, and of a hundred micro panels that I am making, I have completed 50. A really good thing about working small, is that if I get too crabby with admin, I can just pick up a panel and start work without to much trouble. I will show you a couple of my most recent pieces

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One of the most fascinating things about working on these earth scapes, is the understanding of how these amazing formations occur, wondering how on earth mountains can crease and wrinkle, how  fabulous patterns, such as folds in saline rocks, moraine bands on glaciers, and ripples on dunes happen. Huge cataclysmic forces of nature, some explosive, as in eruptions from the core of the earth, others over millions of years, as in the forces of erosion. It may be that it will be the combination of forces that carves out a landscape, such as wind and glaciation, intense heat and freezing cold, cause cracking and melting. I digress, but my work as an artist is thinking about these things whilst working, some could call it meditation, or getting into the work, but it is at these times that I feel a connection to the subject, deeply involved wih the forms I am creating. The patterns of the earth are I am convinced a deeply internalised part of our psyche, and speak to me on many levels

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My hands are constantly dirty, and covered with paint, but there is a satisfaction in this, it is the mark of work in progress.

Testing image uploading.

I must say that the new year has started off with loads of doom and gloom across the world, however in my studio I can shut all of that out and concentrate on my work. The more that I look at the natural formations and colours of the Earth, the more I am fascinated. I am struck by the similarity in shape between a ridge of mountains and the shape of the backbone for instance, which brings us into the world of macro and micro, salt flats from the earth can look like amoeba or plankton and sinter crusts resemble algae, and lichen on rocks. I have been working on a series of 13cm square tiles, immersing myself in texture, relief and paint, the tiles are to be exhibited together as a larger wall piece, the piece can be flexible in that it can be larger or smaller to suit the space in which it is exhibited. I envisage maybe a hundred pieces, 30 of which have been completed so far. At present the tiles fall into three categories, land, water, ice. I believe that in the depths of a grey and dismal English winter, my studio is a refuge.

Here goes if this blog turns out to be gobledeguck it is because I am trying to upload images