Abstract

I am interested in the abstract ‘formal qualities’, meaning those of colour, shape, texture, and others. I start with a proposal, an idea, the origins of which may lie in nature, sign and symbol, or that very abstract of all the arts, music. The images that I manipulate often derive from the graphic forms of ancient cultures.

Abstract

Archaic Script

In this small (28 x 20 cm) series of pastel and collage works I was interested in simple, ‘Classical’ compositions.

Archaic Script

Drapery

My starting point is often the history of art. Like Alison Watt’s focus, not on the figure but the cloth draped on the body and what it tells us about absence, there is a vast field of reference to explore from the ‘damp’ Hellenistic, Nike of Samothrace, to the alienation of a ‘Wrapped Bottle’, by Christo.

Drapery

Driftwood

Drawing in its various forms is a constant discipline. I have in the past taken the most mundane items and made a series of studies, always with the objects floating in isolation on the page in order to emphasis the purity of the form.  

Driftwood

Histology

  This series of soft pastel works on Fabriano Tiziano 160 paper, explore the boundary of the visible world, by using as a starting point; histology slides, light micrographs, scanning electron microscopes and transmission electron microscopes.

Histology

Kabuki Dance

These paintings are loosely based on black and white or colour, Japanese wood block prints of the Oban period. My interest was in the dramatic poses struck by the actors in this dance, an informal piece of theatre when compared to the court form of masked, No theatre.

Kabuki Dance

Life Drawing

For a number of years I have run the Newton Solney Life Drawing Group which meets Thursdays. I regard life drawing as an essential discipline for all my other work. It teaches one the difference between looking and seeing. It is about how to observe. .

Life Drawing

Lithic

 Standing stones, like ‘Carn Holy’ in Scotland, are recurring themes. Dolmens (cromlechs in Wales) are megalithic chamber tombs. Some bear the pecked remains of cup and ring marks, while others show mysterious spirals, serpentine lines and meanders.

Lithic

Mayan Paintings

 In this series of large abstracts I am interested in making strong, heraldic images. The forms that I use are derived from my studies of the magic books of Mexico, or codex.

Mayan Paintings

Portraits

        One of my regular pleasures is the opportunity every week to draw from a portrait model. Drawing from life is absolutely essential. Sometimes in graphite or biro or ink pen, the drawing usually takes me an hour and a half.   

Portraits

Reflections

When I was invited to run a workshop for BTEC students, I wanted them to look at the American painter Janet Fish and her treatment of light, reflections and transparency. Where Fish worked large with oil paint I wanted the students to work small with ink.

Reflections

Script Series

Signs, for a painter of abstracts such as myself, are devices awaiting manipulation. In the ‘Palimpsest’ group (monoprint and stencil) I was interested in layering. In the ‘Archaic Script’ group (pastel and collage) I was interested in a ‘Classical’ composition.

Script Series

New Work

n this series David concentrated on shape and colour. Interested in the endless possibilities of the geometry of nets and tessellations,

New Work

Swan Project

An open submission asked artists for their Swan artwork proposals. Twenty five, same size, swan blanks were made at the Brewhouse art centre, ready for the selected artists to paint. Businesses who agreed to sponsor the event selected the designs.  My design called, Graphic Swan, was sponsored by a group of four Burton companies. The twenty five, differently painted, swans were located on a trail around Burton upon Trent for ten weeks."

Swan Project

Rosaceae

In 1858, Florence Nightingale; nurse, medical reformer and statistician, published her Rose Diagram, a before and after chart, which demonstrated that preventable infectious disease caused more deaths in the Crimean War than battlefield wounds.

Rosaceae