Negative Space

I have been attempting to clear some space in my iPhone’s photo library. Every so often amongst the screen grabs and the blurry pictures of Aubrey, I find work-in-progress photographs of completed paintings. Intricate flowers with their centers missing hover on the page, and a vase floats on a yet-to-be-painted shelf, above a pair of disembodied cat’s ears.

I took these pictures to post on social media. I instantly forgot about them, but coming across them again is surprisingly poignant, perhaps because the paintings as they were in that moment no longer exist. I am reminded of how my process has changed since I have taken on more commissions. In earlier paintings, I tended not to sketch the composition in pencil, I just followed my instincts and am compelled to recapture some of this spontaneity.

I tend to take work-in-progress photos when the image is beginning to contain a promise that it will be successful. Due to the unforgiving nature of the medium, I have to tread carefully, initially using a watery pigment with the potential to build bolder colours and details as the image takes shape.

Even at this point, there is still an element of danger. With watercolour, a small error has the potential to ruin everything. Mistakes cannot easily be painted over as they could be in a Frank Aurbach-style oil painting. I find this aspect of the medium quietly thrilling, especially after years of moving Photoshop layers around a screen to get the perfect composition.

I believe the strength of the style of painting I have developed over recent years is its fullness and busyness, the white space within it largely exists as an outline, giving the image its definition. Yet when I look at these in-progress photographs, I am drawn to the larger areas of calm emptiness. They remind me of being our quiet bedroom during the light evenings and the occasional cry of a seagull or the distant roar of a motorbike gives the silence a shape. The busy jangling chaos of family life often feels like listening to two different free jazz records at once. I crave the soothing blankness of negative space, both figuratively and literally.

View more of my work on Instagram and browse cards, giclee prints, and more in my shop. Please email me to commission an original painting.