"Pots"

Large (1.5 X 1m) oil on canvas painting which came about as part of a workshop/exhibition in 2003. I found a few pottery items to serve as models, and set up a single light source in my studio. I mapped it out with burnt sienna and a single brush first, before deciding on a final composition "drawing".

I draw a lot. It really is the integral foundation of all of my work. Everything starts with the drawing and the happy little accidents or sidetracks which come from that initial train of thought.

I often wish I could capture the immediacy and vitality of the original sketch when working in pastel or paint, as it so often get's lost later in the labour of tone and colour. I also keep sketch books which I fill with ideas, doodles, marks and anecdotes. I usually create a lot of my initial ideas for pictures in willow charcoal or pencil and once happy with that, I'll use a fixative to ensure there is no melding with the overlayed colours that follow. Occasionally I will purposely leave some of the underlying drawing to "peek through" a picture just to give the piece a sense of history or effect.