2019 – 2021
Over the last decade, I’ve been living with a brain condition that regularly puts me on strict flat bed rest – sometimes for weeks at a time. Although my art studio lies only a few steps away in my garden, I found myself getting increasingly sad about the amount of time I was able to get out there to pit brush to canvas. As working with traditional media – paper, paints, inks – whilst lying very still and flat in bed is rather difficult (and messy), I’ve had to adapt to new ways of making art to continue my creative practice. And so, I turned to creating digital paintings.
Managing pain is complex, however an unexpected side-effect of spending this time engrossed in digitally painting is that it has helped me to manage these very painful episodes, offering a partial distraction from the pain – and a way to feel I am accomplishing things (despite being bed-bound).
Through necessity, these works are created on an iPhone (with finger rather than stylus). As such, they are best viewed small-scale. Though restrictions outwith my control, I’m unable to optimise work for large screens and high definition. Drawing with a finger is easier than wielding a fiddly stylus with hand-tremors and co-ordination problems, and larger tech devices (iPads, laptops) are more fatiguing to hold and use (than a phone), or require lying in one fixed position.
Rather than finding these restrictions frustrating, I’ve learned to relish working within the limitations. My challenge is to push the boundaries of what I can achieve within a field of pixels, within the processing power and memory of a smart phone. This work is imitate and personal. It exists in my head, and then in my pocket, then on my social media (should I choose to share). The phone is the sketchbook, portfolio and gallery.
These digital abstract paintings continue and expand upon all the interests and ideas that inspired me when previously creating analog work.
