Galapagos

Choosing colours

Galapagos is a magnificent, mid-sized painting full of earthy, elemental tones and shapes. It’s primarily a combination of blue, silver and coper with hints of red, orange and black.

The colours are inspired by rock, stone, earth and sea. So the name is entirely deliberate as I wanted to capture the power of an active landscape and an ever-evolving ecosystem. I’m sure you can pick out your own subject matter and no doubt you’ll have an instant reaction to what it reminds you of. But it’s good to know how it was conceived in my mind nonetheless.

The power of movement

So many stories can be told with movement. Think of a dancer and how their body moves. Classical, contemporary, jazz, ballroom – choose any style and you have something different every time. yet it’s still only a human body at the end of the day.

It’s the same story with paint. Our only limits are what we choose to do with them it’s this fascination that drives artists to explore and experiment and has been since we learned how to communicate on cave walls.

In Galapagos I have focused on white and black to make the most dramatic movements; you may see that as waves crashing against rocks or something completely different. There is a natural swell from the areas of blue that grows in intensity until it meets the silver. This, in turn, is treated to some rather wonderful chemical manipulation. Cells appear then disappear as the paint mixes with others around it. Amazing!