In December 2021, Ruth and I visited the beautiful city of Lille in northern France. Exploring the narrow cobbled streets of the old town, I discovered this scene in a shadowy doorway. I made a number of exposures, shooting handheld, working to create the strongest possible composition while abstracting the graphics by removing the visual context of the surrounding scene.
After applying only very minimal adjustments to enhance tone and colour, I printed the image onto Breathing Color archival canvas. I stretched the canvas onto pine stretcher bars and then, using a small brush, applied clear acrylic—over only the lines. They stand out nicely against the dark background, and the hand embellishing creates a unique, one-of-a-kind mixed media work.
I’ve mounted the canvas in a black, wood float frame. The finished work is just over 24 x 36 inches and is priced at £950.
During Autumn 2018, I produced a body of work in abstract photography that, in many ways, fulfills my highest vision as an artist. (This is what I’ve been working toward for many years!) Today, I’m pleased to present one of my first releases of finished art derived from the series.
My aim with this series was to create a set of images that share some common attributes and visual style, but that also have a lot of variation from one image to the next.
While I was making the photographs I was observing the dynamic, captivating graphic elements and working to create intriguing, surreal images with an organic feel.
I’ve titled the series Shapeshifter; each individual photograph simply uses a unique number designator. This naming ties in with the nature of the subject matter—through only slight changes in my viewpoint, the reflective surface revealed an infinite variety of shapes, colours and patterns… Truly morphing in front of my eyes!
Shapeshifter No. 11 displays a minimalist composition, with a single black line running diagonally across the picture space. This is surrounded by subtle, organic textures in a muted, pastel colour palette.
As with much of my abstract work, this is offered as a mixed media piece, which I create by printing the photograph onto canvas and then hand-embellishing the canvas surface with transparent acrylic, bringing out the contours and textures of the underlying image. It is 16×24 inches, unframed ‘gallery-wrap’ style and delivered ready-to-hang.
A world-renowned eye surgeon based in Switzerland has commissioned me to produce a bespoke mixed media work on canvas, based on my photograph ‘Waiting for Dawn’, as a Christmas gift for his wife. The artwork will hang in their home.
In 2014, Ruth and I led another private photo tour around Tuscany, Italy. One of our group’s favorite towns was San Gimignano, an architectural wonder from medieval times.
We first photographed the iconic village from the surrounding area, then gradually worked our way into the city. Everyone made compelling images depicting all facets of this magical town.
While I was wandering around the back alleys, I discovered an outdoor restaurant patio attached to a hotel. Lovely glass panels were all around, each reflecting and refracting the afternoon sun as it came down in slivers between the tall stone towers surrounding the courtyard.
This photograph shows a closeup of the refraction of glass panels on a textured fabric surface. Although it’s far from the typical photograph of San Gimignano, for me it epitomizes the special vignettes that can be found in every little corner of the world.
As with all my photographs, fine art prints and original abstract mixed media works are available, so get in touch if you can envision this adorning your walls.
