Joining up the dots.

It’s difficult to be precise when, but sometime in the early 80s I became aware of the Australian artist Sydney Nolan and his use of the landscape as a narrative tool reflecting the artists own personal journey. Whether using Ned Kelly as a metaphor for the Australian landscape or his lived experience of China or Antarctica, I can recall starting to realise that a landscape painting could be more than just a representation of visual stimulus. I didn’t know anymore than that and its taken a long time to understand a little more about what I do.

I needed to make a living and so I ended up in Manchester working for The Guardian selling advertising space. Eventually I found myself working within regional economic development and more specifically; destination or ‘place’ marketing for the tourism sector. I’d also become part owner in a climbing centre and my experience of landscape was multi-faceted as policy maker, consumer and painter.

The only thing left was to push it out there and see if anyone else thought it made any sense. Further research into David Bomberg and the Borough Group added another layer of complexity and I’m pleased to say that several decades on, I’m still trying to figure out how my experience of landscape, (urban, natural or imagined) and all the personal baggage I carry, can be transferred into a single image…