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Now! Joy! Movement! Music!
I have adapted the principles of Zen Calligraphy  to create my own form of asemic writing that tells stories of power, motion and time; paintings that challenge the viewer's perception and individual understanding of reality. I use a calligrapher's ink brush and work on a variety of materials including handmade paper, parchment, leather, bark etc. My goal is to paint one beautiful line… all my concentration calmly on the brush, its flow and the ink soaking the paper. Once the line is complete I paint the next line, slightly different to the first, a partner in time and space, but unique, independent. I never correct any line that is 'wrong' because each line has its own qualities and each line is a statement of where and how I was at the moment of painting… a statement that is entirely truthful because each line is as it is.
"What is a line? - an extract from my painting diary "
 Sometimes I begin a painting with an image, poem or statement in mind and let the lines grow accordingly. Other times I start empty and let the lines form themselves and am surprised by how the painting develops. At all times I set strict rules to guide the painting… 'A line cannot be longer than 3cm' or 'No more than five lines in a series' or 'A series should be as long as possible.' Rules give me freedom to experiment, because without rules I would be blinded by the unending possibilities of art… First I'd like to understand my brush.
What amazes me most is that often when I begin a series, I don't know where it will end… and it always ends wonderfully. At other times I plan carefully and, halfway through, find my hand and brush hijacking the conscious plan and developing new shapes. At these times I know that my sub-conscious has its own powerful ideas. It's like dancing at a club, conscious of the crowds, of the rhythm, what should be… then slipping into a physical trance, forgetting all, feeling the rhythm and grooving joy.
As I paint the organic form that grows takes on its own life, offering me stories, faces, animals, histories, sciences… the weird and wonderful… fading in and out of color, switching between empty-space and line-space, popping 3D here and there… offering inverted landscapes that fold over each other and surf the eye through loops, tunnels, gentle slopes and dangerous precipices… painting is exhausting and refreshing… my feet get hot when I paint!
There are two major influences on my work… music and paper. I always listen to music when I paint… house, drum and base, blues, rock… My paintings are visual rhythm, each line a base line, each series a twisting turning improvised solo… the musician's nowness of playing live… my nowness of painting… now. I choose paper according to its feel, forgivingness, color and texture which influences my mood… sooths, excites and invokes.
"music - an extract from my painting diary "
I paint because painting is a process of self-discovery… my thinking patterns, programs, deep desires, sorrows and joys. Painting lays me bare to myself and forces learning and change. It's impossible to turn back on this journey… no matter if it is painful, joyful, disturbing and finally calming. My discovery through painting is so exciting its one of the biggest roller coaster rides I can offer myself. I paint because I am(ing).
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