My paintings often begin with photographs taken while walking through cities and suburbs. I am drawn to ordinary architecture, streets, industrial spaces and fragments of the built environment rather than traditionally picturesque subjects. What interests me is the way light, shadow, colour and geometry can transform these seemingly unremarkable places and give them a particular presence.
I worked for many years as a graphic designer and creative director in the UK, Europe and Australia before retiring from the design industry and returning to painting full-time. My background continues to influence the way I look at space, proportion, colour and composition, although my painting has increasingly become less concerned with design and more concerned with observation and reduction.
I try to remove anything that is not necessary to the painting. Rather than describing everything I see, I am interested in discovering what actually carries meaning: a particular light, a shadow, a colour relationship or a small human detail. The resulting paintings are often quiet and deliberately restrained, allowing the viewer to bring their own experience to the scene.
Akubra reflects this approach. Although its subject is recognisably Australian, I am less interested in making a statement about Australian identity than in finding something particular within an ordinary moment. The painting is ultimately about the relationship between the familiar and the unexpected, and about how much can be suggested with relatively little.
I am based in Sydney and paint full-time, continuing to explore the relationship between architecture, light, memory and the everyday places in which we live.