Please can you tell us about your artistic practice?
I use mostly oil paint, graphite and sometimes gouache if oils are impractical. I know that I love painting, how it makes me look at things differently, but I don’t yet feel that certain of my practice, and I don’t think I want to be for a while yet. I want to make paintings that feel truthful, and that are fun to look at. I paint from direct observation, and occasionally from drawing which is something I’d like to do more of. I really love painting people but I probably end up doing still life more. People are for me the hardest thing to paint, but so rewarding and humans are so full of beautiful colour and line. With still life I take more liberties and try to make stranger compositions. I want these to be quite ambiguous, but have a grounding in perception. I have a number of ‘props’ that I’m always adding to, and there are certain colours which I get a bit obsessed with. Self portraits are also a constant and something I’d be a bit lost without, they feel like a kind of breadcrumb trail, and a place where I can put everything I’ve been thinking about with my other work, together.
Flatness and fullness, vividness and subtlety, intuition and precision, stillness and activity. As grand and cliche as that all might sound, they’re things I end up trying to balance when painting.
What art education have you received ? Are you currently studying?
At 6th form I did a Diploma of Art and Design at Truro College which was great, I met Mark Dunford (who teaches with you) and was taught life drawing by Kay Vinson for a while which was really important. I had always drawn and liked art, but it was in these two years that I began to understand what it was that I liked. Since then I did a year at Camberwell school of Arts on a painting ba, but dropped out in my second year (last December). There was so little contact time with tutors, and we got about a metre of wall space! I wouldn’t recommend it, but I’m not upset I went. I’m going to start another fine art course at City and Guilds in September. There seems to be a lot more of both there, so fingers crossed.
Recently I’ve been tagging along with Joshua Press’ ‘north London Group’, where he does still life, landscape and transcription workshops. He’s been very generous and it’s so useful to get some genuine technical criticism. It’s helped reinstate the value and beauty of representational painting to me.
Where do you see your work sitting in relation to your contemporaries and the art world or art in the broader sense?
Hmm. Honestly I don’t think much about this. One thing I love about art is that it still feels possible to make something new, and add something to the landscape. There’s loads of contemporary artists I love, but it doesn’t feel oversaturated.
Where were you born / brought up and how has this affected your painting?
I was Born and Brought up in Cornwall, England. It’s got a pretty rich history of art, with the big St Ives artists like Patrick Heron, Barbera Hepworth etc. it’s hard to know how much of an effect that had on me, but definitely growing up in a beautiful place like Falmouth is inspiring. More important was probably my Parents – both theatre designers and makers, so I’ve always been encouraged to make art. My mum makes really good drawings, and used to make beautiful prints too. They’re both incredible makers.
Cornwall is a funny place for art; it has this history and it’s home to Tate St Ives etc, but
a lot of Cornish contemporary galleries are very catered to tourists, a lot of seascapes and inoffensive pottery…. Tregony contemporary really stands out from that and they have some fantastic artists in their roster.
London where I live now is an amazing place for seeing art, some of the best galleries and museums in the world. I’ve been going more and more often to places like the v&a and National Gallery, amazing resources for drawing from the masters or just admiring.
What and who are your influences?
The first artist who really inspired me was Euan Uglow, who’s a very dangerous influence and I’ve been trying to escape his grasp ever since haha. Patrick George, his contemporary, has been a longstanding favourite, William Coldstream too. Some other names – Edwin Dickinson, William Nicholson, Corot, Freud, Lopez Garcia, Tiepolo, Giotto, Ingres, Auerbach, Morandi, pennant Anderson. Lots I’m forgetting there!
Some contemporary favourites – Sangram Majumdar, Neil Callander, David Baird, Kay Vinson, Mark Dunford, Emil Robson, Joe Morzuch, Josh press, Robert dukes, again, the list goes on.
Which brushes / size / paints / mediums do you use?
I use mostly Michael Harding paints, paint lasts me a long time so I’ve had them forever. I generally use rounds and filberts of varying sizes, sable feels great but I’m too lazy with cleaning to warrant them. Ive always used just turpentine as a medium, I like how matt and even it can make the surface, but I’m not set, I might try adding an oil at some point.
I paint on a few different surfaces, but the one I come back to most is simple primed birch ply, I like having a hard surface I can be quite rough with, and birch stays lovely and flat.
Can you tell us how you came to show with tregony Gallery?
When I was at college I knew that Mark and Kay showed there, as well as lots of other artists I followed. I would visit often as I could and always loved it. I can’t remember how my showing there came about, I think it was just them messaging me on instagram in the end. I had always wanted to show with them so it’s a real joy.
In practical terms, how do you organise your life? When do you paint?
Well at the minute I’m between courses, so I’m just painting in my bedroom – It’s quite free-form, but I do like being surrounded by what I’m making . I’m looking forward to going back to school and regaining some proper structure and having space to make some more ambitious paintings.
