A funny thing happened on the way to the chalk face.


                                                                   oil on canvas  160x120cm


Because this is not the painting that I set out to paint. I thought that I would make something like the small paintings in the previous post but either I couldn't sustain the method over a large surface or, it simply became defeated by the size. Or maybe I become lost and in finding my way to some sort of resolution, the journey changed direction. 

I was in conversation with a friend who weaves: we talked about maintaining direction, the integrity of the vision, the fact that if in his case it all goes awry he must tear it down and start again where as I, can just slap on some more paint or scrape it off. Integrity does interest me. I want the paint surface to have meaning and to be honest in its application and intention. While painting there is always that interrogation as to what it is that we think that we we are doing. One of the things that this painting asked of me was whether there was any one area that could be removed without the painting falling apart or which pieces could be moved in such a way as to alter the sense of the piece and I am fascinated by those moments when we decide to completely alter area by repainting or removing a section without really understanding why we do it, those moments of determined action after perhaps having spent time staring ( into space ? ), moving, in my case, from one chair to a sofa and then perhaps to another. What is going on in the subconscious in those moments ? 





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