About This Work

‘Everything that is painted directly and on the spot has always a strength, a power, a vivacity of touch which one cannot recover in the studio… three strokes of a brush in front of nature are worth more than two days of work at the easel.’Eugene Boudin ( ..and boy could he could paint!) Gone are the days when I would walk around looking endlessly for that perfect scene to paint. These days, pretty anything I paint – even en plein air – is a composite of structures and objects and colours in that particular area or space, which I use to create what I feel is harmonious, but still has some aspects of representation as opposed to pure abstraction, whatever that may be. However, Eugene is unmistakably correct that direct painting, ie actually standing in the snow or on the beach or in front of the model always produces something that is far more powerful than carefully worked and reworked studies in the studio. I believe there are a few reasons for this. Firstly, when you paint directly, there is usually a sense of ‘no time to waste’, whether it is the weather, encroaching livestock, impending tides, or even the cost of the model. So this tends to induce an approach of ‘let’s just fly into this and throw a bit of paint around and see how it goes.’ As it happens, it normally produces a strong painting. Another consideration is that what happens when you paint directly or in situ, is that you are not just painting what is there, you are painting the feeling or human experience of being there, and this inevitably comes out in the work, even if you don’t see it at first. Quite often, I will paint a panel outside, and then take it back to the studio and leave it for a few days or weeks. When I do take it out and have another look, on most occasions I am surprised that what I thought was a pretty ordinary effort on the day, now stands as a strong painting, and reminds me how the snow felt under my feet, or being almost swept away by the tide, and takes me back to having really been there, and the is what it is all about.