The Covid Era

During this covid pandemic I have been very busy learning a new way of working. At first I was very nervous about putting paint on canvas. Crazy, because I used to paint scenery on massive boards (24ft x 8ft) so why does a small white canvas scare me? I began looking at some on-line courses and this turned out to be the key to the artistic door. With the help of courses from Mel Cormack-Hicks, her sister Steph Cormack, Louise Fletcher, Lewis Noble and the free taster course from Nicholas Wilton I began to experiment in ways I had never thought of before.

I began using a limited palette with black and white, introduced tools other than brushes, experimented with different mark making, inks, pencils. And what about collage - I began to print my own things on tissue paper - it was so exciting and challenging. I remember one assignment in the course by Louise Fletcher was to paint freely to a piece a music…not as easy as it sounds because first you have to choose a piece of music! Eventually, I created a piece of work whilst listening to punk music. A bit surprising, but it was the only one at the time to really get me going. I generally have music on whilst working anyway or I listen to the wonderful voice of Jeremy Irons reciting the poetry of TS Eliot.