Simple Is Best...

Studio Journal: NOVEMBER: 2023:

I’ve had a bit of a difficult painting week, sometimes it just doesn’t flow.

And when it doesn’t flow I tend to push myself harder, which can be counterproductive.

If creativity was personified then I imagine it to be like an imaginary playmate who just wants to have fun, one whiff of anything sensible, one utterance of the word ‘should’ and its gone, off in search of someone less dull!

I’d been tackling this one painting in particular and I’d begun to force it to be something it just didn’t want to be.

The composition became more complex, the mark-making heavier and controlled.

So today I was simply playing with my iPad, cheesy Christmas film playing in the background, hoovering and housework done, and, just like that,I think it’s begun to make sense.

It needed stripping back and simplifying.

Just like life I guess!