Layering Pattern and Language

During lockdown I decided to expand on my statement paintings, adding a geometric element in order to inverse colours and add complexity. These three pieces involve thought statements that have been selected for their symmetry, which I am constantly thinking up in my sketchbook until one feels 'right'. Like a check pattern, each pattern block is inverted in colour to the previous, inspired by check doodles I recreate in my sketchbook.

Nope was made using soft pastel colours that contradict the statement, adding a sarcastic element to it, working with the square shape of the canvas and cutting it in half. This symmetrical appearance is satisfying to view which is contradicted by the discomforting connotations of the word Nope.

Don't Hold Back involves playful swirls and vibrant colours as a more positive and inspirational piece. Throughout my work I think it is important to explore the more positively reflective statement said by others or told to myself to stay grounded.

Busy Thinking used quite nauseating tones of orange and green, almost neon. This was to exaggerate the discomfort at having a 'busy' mind, at the general anxieties I explore throughout my practice. However, I don't find this piece effective as the letters are skewed and too childlike, a less powerful appearance than sharp and neat painted text.

All that you need is here is an unfinished piece, displaying a struggle with materials. Using gouache over acrylic led to colour bleeding and there are accidental paint splashes from the studio. The phrase was inspired by the idea that the basic things we need to survive are already around us if we take a moment to look. This painting was also created over lockdown, at a time where I was reflecting over what really matters.

Whatever this is it will end was my second attempt at this style, using my swirl drawing patterns over text to distort colour and add complexity to it. Both paintings are on salvaged wood meaning they are imperfect, chipped, not perpendicular. This is often how I work, collecting recycled pieces of wood as a way to reflect my ongoing diarist approach to recording my experiences, using objects I encounter.

I like the sculptural element of this painting but it has inspired me to expand on this aesthetic on a larger scale, possibly painting on unprimed canvas - a way to explore the versatility of fabric whilst hanging it unframed in an immediate way.

Look Look Look Look

All of these experiments led to this painting on canvas for the formative exhibition. Unusually for me, I used a clean and neat canvas. This decision was made to contradiction the handwritten piece below as a way to present the inside and out; thee canvas as the exterior, the portrait. The written piece below being the interior, the inner mind. To complicate the text further I used both a diagonal cut as well as swirled patterns to create a unique kind of check pattern. I rarely use solely black and white in painting but I think it really works to form sharp geometric forms that semi-camouflage the text beneath.