The Malaga Series
The original inspiration for this series of works came from seeing images of the works produced by David Hockney using a tablet. I immediately saw that this was a process/tool that I could use to my advantage. Might this be a way to circumvent the laborious business of painting?
A friend installed a free drawing/painting app onto my small tablet for me and I began to experiment with this, at first doing little more than finding different ways of mark making. I quickly realised that my free app was capable of much more than simple mark making.
I then purchased a new larger tablet and took myself of to Spain for a few weeks. My plan was to spend some time each day familiarising myself with my new device. I did in fact feel very much like a child with a new toy, brimming with both enthusiasm and optimism.
Though my work is abstract it does need to find a starting point somewhere in the observable world. Many abstract artists have used landscape as a point of departure, myself I am more drawn towards the marks that time and human, or natural, activity can make on a variety of surfaces.
On my arrival in Malaga on the 20th of January 2024 I knew that I must find some suitable subject matter to photograph in order to have my point of departure for the creation of new work. I was extremely fortunate; on my first day in the city I found a passageway that was paved with white marble slabs, many of which had cracked and all of which were covered in marks made with a burster chisel.
Over a period of five weeks I produced some fifty-plus works, using a combination of photographs and the drawing/painting app.
A friend installed a free drawing/painting app onto my small tablet for me and I began to experiment with this, at first doing little more than finding different ways of mark making. I quickly realised that my free app was capable of much more than simple mark making.
I then purchased a new larger tablet and took myself of to Spain for a few weeks. My plan was to spend some time each day familiarising myself with my new device. I did in fact feel very much like a child with a new toy, brimming with both enthusiasm and optimism.
Though my work is abstract it does need to find a starting point somewhere in the observable world. Many abstract artists have used landscape as a point of departure, myself I am more drawn towards the marks that time and human, or natural, activity can make on a variety of surfaces.
On my arrival in Malaga on the 20th of January 2024 I knew that I must find some suitable subject matter to photograph in order to have my point of departure for the creation of new work. I was extremely fortunate; on my first day in the city I found a passageway that was paved with white marble slabs, many of which had cracked and all of which were covered in marks made with a burster chisel.
Over a period of five weeks I produced some fifty-plus works, using a combination of photographs and the drawing/painting app.
