Latest state of play?

Reflecting on my last post and Braque's tendency for the painting to speak to him, I have had "Pain" hanging around and then ... of course, to work back onto a painting requires an openness to what may or may not happen. So, I was sure I knew what was needed and set to, only to be confronted with the inevitable, 'arghh, it's ruined' and 'shite, shite, shite' - the reality is that in order to achieve anything I needed to work through the too scared & merely titivating barrier and that is hard, you know the - knowing when to stop and when to carry on dilemma and the - we stop when we should carry on and carry on when we should stop reality. I needed to find a way through,  trust my instincts  and reconnect. The changes are a mix of the barely audible, subtle refinement and a stronger reinterpretation. This is the latest statement.

It has been a challenge to photograph given the oil/varnish - the reflections are problematic - plus viewed as this is, in virtual reality, it is difficult to get the sense of scale - 6ft x 4ft

More work has been done on the diptych "Commitment"

As already mentioned, there is no known starting point other than ... the prepared canvasses and in this case some blue that was to hand. What then follows is innate - decision making is governed by a variety of circumstance and maintaining a sense of fluidity is difficult when returning to work on it x days later. This has been a real learning curve for me and at present I feel the approach is the right one. God, who am I kidding? Me? It can be extremely difficult to maintain the focus ... sometimes I am under so much internal pressure to make works that conform. Why? 

Next is the latest stage of " The God Particle", again the changes are not necessarily huge, for instance, the painting suggested it needed the small block of colour at the bottom just off centre, the green semi- circle and more picture varnish on the blue oval. I think this is now at a stage where I will leave it alone but on the other hand ...

Another painting that I have finished working on is "Stubborn Ghost", I started this a good while back ( approx 4ft x 3ft) and it went through a variety of states. I knew that I wanted it to be more than ... and despite protestations from others ' why do you want to ruin it? it's really nice' I knew it needed to be more than a beach scene. In the back of my head I recalled news about victims of IRA executions that were buried at beaches and the idea of a beauty spot containing this nasty secret resonated. I then learnt about Ireland's Stubborn Ghosts and in particular, Jean McConville - her purse was returned as a sign of her demise and all it contained was 52pence and 3 gold rings. This is my response.

The funding for this project provided by (see above) is due to finish at the end of August which is very apt as I am opening the studio to the public as part of the Crossing Borders Art Trail on the 31st till the 2nd Sept. Naturally this is an opportunity for me to get feedback on what I have produced so far ...