METHODS & MATERIALS

Field painting, Antarctica

The starting point for most of my work is the field experience as pure observation is the raw material.  It might be a few small sketches, or a larger and more considered drawing, sometimes even a more ambitious painting which one hopes distils something of the day’s experience - a hope once best described as, “Snatching the eternal out of the desperately fleeting…”.  

Sometimes something straight from the field can be framed and exhibited, but mostly one finishes the day with a whole range of snatched ideas, detailed sketches, themes and notes which can be taken back to the studio to be viewed in a new light and worked through in many different ways using a range of methods and materials.

One would assume that temperatures around the Antarctic peninsula most days would be at or below freezing, but more often or not we had daytime temperatures around 3 or 4 degrees and up to about 8 degrees centigrade.  This made work possible almost every day, but there were also snow flurries and sometimes very strong winds.

The two images (middle and bottom right) are from a more recent trip to South Georgia