Muddle in my Studio

I wanted to visually contain my rather flamboyant gathering of roses by using the vertical grid of the windows behind it – it didn’t work, I had invited the garden into the conversation. I wanted to use the serpentine carving of the chair behind,and liked the shape and the way that the light fell on my oval tray, then realised I had also begun to include the old case I use for brushes behind it, and then the cat came and joined it all…! I believe it is important to continually ‘read’ ones work, to let the painting talk back to you instead of keeping on set tracks leading to what can become a predictable or slightly disappointing result. In this painting I realised I had inadvertently recorded a creative train of thought, and, in doing so, had held onto the excitement and energy that had inspired me in the first place. So I stopped trying to sort it out, and I still enjoy looking at it.