A collaborative exhibition with ceramicist and designer Andrew Ludick for the Kilkenny Arts Festival in 2010
“When the idea for ‘Form a Line’ came to being, I started back to basics and began a series of blind drawings from around my studio. This helped me focus on the act of deliberate line making and got me away from colour and mood for the time being. My subject matter was organic and included weeds, jars, brushes, people, anything; the focus was on looking, exploring and line making. I did a lot of studies and explorations using colour with the linework and how it might add definition and atmosphere. These are the small works on board. My paintings have always been about making calm out of chaos and with the madness of the blind drawing linework it was no different. Working with Andy though, helped me to focus more on minimal deliberate linemaking within simpler compositions. This is evident in the final paintings on canvas.
The paintings suggest a stream of consciousness. Dreamlike objects, memories, layers of indistinct images and strange symbols are obscured and blended together. For me, working on a painting is like a constant flow of thought and as images and ideas form, they can appear on the canvas – landscapes, plants, people, ancient symbols; the things in life that might inspire me. The painting over and clearing out of the chaotic is my attempt to simplify my own artistic thought process down to it’s basic concept.”
