Abstracts

Explorations in Ink and Acrylics

An abstract is an invitation. I encourage a viewer to pause, and, doing so, to complete the creative process I began.

It’s never my intention to tell a viewer how they should read a picture. Just as the creative process is a conversation between me, the materials and the surface, so the encounter between viewer and finished picture is an act of creative engagement.

The viewer completes the picture, not me.

Even the most austere of abstracts is a joyful statement, and open-ended celebration of creative possibility - my own and the viewer’s.

In these works I reject the notion of definition or certainty. I want to encourage, instead, ambiguity and to extend an invitation to embark on journeys of discovery.

‘Koi’ (2026)
Water-based ink on handmade washi-style paper from Nepal
94cm x 68cm

All my works contain inks - water-based or acrylic, commercial or home made. Some also use highly diluted acrylic paints, to create complexities of depth and dimensionality.

I usually work on very wet paper or canvas, encouraging flow and blending, watching as the materials reveal how they respond to the surface, and giving myself space to respond to what they’re telling me.