Intuition, Mystery and Wonder

I have many years experience as a ceramic artist and designer and I regularly practice drawing and painting from life but for my abstract painting I like to access my intuition and subconscious. So I begin with an open mind, some dabs of paint and a variety of marks. Then I paint over anything I don’t like and experiment with adding something different in its place. I choose colours and effects on a whim and slowly build up or scrape through the layers of paint using pencils, oil pastels, ink, metal kidneys, screwdrivers or even a scalpel. As the painting progresses I move into a state of flow - this is like a conversation between just me and my painting and it can go on for days. Eventually I start to realise what the painting is about - it can be a vague notion at times but there is often quite a specific meaning. A line from a song might pop up in my head or I might suddenly recognise a place that I know. Sometimes the meaning occurs to me early on in the process and sometimes not until the painting has been finished a while. It is a bit like solving a puzzle or a mystery and I am totally hooked!

Now and then a theme develops that I want to explore further or I discover a perfect combination of colours and brush strokes to play with. Then my paintings become the inspiration for my ceramics and I develop a new range of pots or sculptures. At the moment I am using white earthenware clay decorated with layers of coloured slip over several firings and I glaze them in parts. I like my pots to have personality! The potters mark that I usually add is a sprig or embossed clay label featuring a double spiral. The design of this evolved from the J and F of my initials.