Ember

Simple colours, complex painting

Ember is a large black and white abstract painting featuring hints of cream, silver and metallic gold. I absolutely love the elemental nature of these extremes of colour. In the way that life imitates art, there is light and darkness in everything and this is shown off in spectacular form with this giant of a painting.

It’s an art work that I am drawn to in many ways. Not only am I at my happiest when I have a limited palette of colour to work from but I also think it challenges me to really explore the materials in new ways as I progress through my artistic career.

The result of these material challenges is a complex and striking painting that encompasses extremes as well as the subtle, middle ground that can so often get overlooked when you create with such bold tones. So, the basically means you get all the depth of the dark and light colours as well as the fusions that exist when they meet. It’s just incredible to stand in front of.

Details to die for!

As you may well know by now I am all about the details. When you spend money on a painting I want you to keep discovering nuances for a lifetime which is why I build in so much complex paint layering into all my originals.

As you take a glance through some of the close up photos on this page you’ll begin to realize that Ember is packed full of intricate movements and features. And, as the name would suggest, it definitely has connotations of fire and the fuel that can produce it. It’s these elemental qualities that help you connect with it.

There are all kinds of paint effects going on here as the paint moves freely around the canvas. Yet there is always a sense of order which is entirely deliberate – the painting started out as a series of opposing vertical lines which were then treated to a bit of Swarez magic! In fact, I recorded the whole session in a Live broadcast  – definitely worth a watch as I demystify the process of creating a black and white abstract on such a big scale.