Strong Foundation

Everything is stronger if there is a certain amount of fore-thought which goes in to the execution. Preparing the ground before you build a house, weighing the ingredients before you make your cake or making sure you have enough wool before you start knitting a jumper (no-one want a wooly jumper with your stomach showing). A lot of things can be spontaneous, and much of my art is, but I have to say that I do enjoy the planning process.

Planning any art work is always an exciting process, from the first thoughts to finally making the first marks on the canvas, I have a smile on my face the whole time. I start with simple sketches in my notebook, playing with shapes. Drawing the shape of the canvas over and over and filling the space with all manor of combinations of shapes and sizes of either circles or rectangles. I have tried experimenting with other shapes, like triangles, but at the moment I feel happiest with the circles and rectangles. I may have a go at triangles if I ever feel the need to go a like wild!

Once I have a collection of composition I am happy with then I move on the adding colour. For this a love using watercolours, I enjoy the way the colours blend, giving a sense of energy and movement. Out of the 30 or 40 little sketches I will finally pick 4 or 5 which I feel are good enough the be transferred on the canvas, which isn't just fun, it is an act of creation!