With All Due Respect

Rejuvenating a palette of black and gold

Creating using these two basic colours is something I have done on a number of occasions. However, I am always looking for new ways to use shape and colour. Sometimes I really have to challenge my own pre-conceived ideas about what I should paint and what I should actually define as a painting.

We could let that debate rage for a lifetime but on this occasion it’s wise to stick to the product of my creation and get to grips with the why and how for this highly complicated new painting called With All Due Respect.

Letting it all go

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you plan there are unexpected events that shape the decisions you make. This is true of many things in life and, whilst 99% of all my output is pretty much how I expect it to be, there are occasions when that goes straight out of the window.

We can either embrace that or reject it. Normally I get cross and storm off in a pissy-fit. On this occasion I accepted it and carried on to see where that would take me. And I am rather glad I did because what came out of those four back-to-back paint sessions was altogether unexpected and delicately wrestles in that most precarious of places – not knowing if it’s a stroke of genius or the worst thing I have ever done.

Seriously?

Yes. I genuinely have no idea where this sits on the scale. It’s a bit ‘out there’ even for me.  So should I really be saying that about my own output? Especially when I am doing my best to convince you that it’s fantastic and that you should buy it?

Well no, I probably shouldn’t. But I’m an honest man and the worst thing I can do is insult your intelligence by trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

Only you can be the judge of whether you like it or not. And by that I’m inferring the notion of acceptance. This is not about good versus shite – it’s more subtle than that. The reaction you have to this painting won’t be a barometer of how well it’s painted or finished and nor will it be a question of whether you want to own it or not – instead your reaction will be based on something a little more primal than that.

The gut reaction

We all have it and it will be largely shaped by your own life experiences and whether something like this stimulates you visually and/or emotionally. As I have said before you don’t have to like a painting to appreciate it. Sometimes all we need is a ‘wooooaaaggggh’ or a ‘holy crap!’ to get what we need from it.

I think our lives should be full of those instances where we don’t know what else to say.

No really, you do need to let go!

The intention was never to go this mad with the volume of paint and definitely not to wrap it into such complicated shapes. I don’t really remember what went on over the 48hr period it was created in. Events are a bit blurry to me, despite doing my best to recall them.

What came out of this frenzy was a painting that doesn’t really need any kind of context – it is simply there. It is what it is. A truly mesmerizing and infinitely complex expression of paint on canvas. If you can attach anything else to it I’d love to know. Sometimes you just have to let these things unfold for themselves and go where life takes you.

I think if we could let ourselves be more open to that we’d probably be a lot better off.

So I’m now going to suggest that buying the painting can help you achieve this aren’t I? Of course I am – but you already know that doing something crazy, like hanging this painting on your wall, will help you live a better life – so in fact you really don’t need me to point that out.

Well done you clever thing! Now you’re getting it…