Page 242 - musetouch

amorphous all suggest the dichotomy of the spiritual, the beginning and the end, the alpha and
omega, the struggle within between the conditioned self and the divine/spiritual self.
The Landscape itself is important to me in this series ‘Awakening’ and ‘Awakening Reloaded’ the
visual influence is determined by the surrounding landscape of my environment, but its inten-
tion is primarily as a catalyst in expressing divinity and is therefore secondary to this expression,
it’s my intention to evoke a sense of spirit, of enormity through the ethereal and tactile qualities

of the paint and aiming to suggest the vastness of landscape, both earth and sky, matter and
space as the catalyst in which to express this sense of spirit, as indeed was the work of the great
British romantic painter Turner, where he used landscape as an arbitrat to the realisation of the
divine. His subject matter could generally not be regarded as spiritual and especially religious,
yet he sought to express the power of the divine, the ethereal spirit in landscape. I strive for ex-
pression of spirituality in my works, rather than responding just to what I see.

My Role as artist - To express honestly without ego the divine within and without......However
ultimately I can only be honest in the visual language I speak and trust that when the viewer

looks at my work they too will somewhat experience its intention. In creating this language the
onus for the painter is to have honest openness, to truth, to free expression without ego. This alert
awareness with the absence of ego in the making of my paintings is primary, how any painter
reaches this state can be a deeply personal one and is as varied as there are individuals, for some
it may be to delve into their past or to use meditation or work from imagination to working
directly from life, for me it is the process itself. Being inspired within and without, this inspiration
which is easier understood when felt rather than explained in words. When felt then the choices
of colours, composition and marks made become inspired rather than contrived. It is here, in
that place, where I believe I am most open and most susceptible to creating my best paintings
and therefore fulfilling my role with truth.
Bridget Riley refers to this place that is beyond logic, beyond ego, beyond thinking, ‘There is an

area, and a very sensitive primary area for an artist, which cannot be referred to directly without
damage. It is as though the impulse which is about to be expressed should remain unavailable
to the logic of the intellect in order to find its true form in whatever field or metier the artist has
chosen’. This spiritual awareness, this openness to the divine inspiration, plays an integral part
and is an indispensable component in the process and expression of my artistic vision.
So as a painter I must be ever vigilant, open and alert to this sensitive primary area. Thus the
burden or struggle for me is to assess the level to which I’m open and alert when new work is
being created. Each of my paintings have their place in my evolution as a painter, but it seems
inevitable as each new work is produced to experience this latest one as more special, this one

satisfies my soul or hunger to create more than the previous work, perhaps this is because the
latest work naturally reflects that moment of expression of where I’m at now. But this paradox of
exhilaration and torment of each new work overshadowing the previous one is a constant recur-
rence for me as a painter, until time and distance is given, sometimes weeks or even years, I, the
painter struggle to be truly impartial when reviewing the success of a series of works. Often it is
only when reviewing or revaluating works with retrospection that I as the artist, have then be-
come the viewer and am now more fully aware of the strengths and weaknesses within the series.
Painting for me is an intuitive and instinctive act allowing me to enter that place of no mind, this
place of no mind or alert awareness is a connection to the divine. But ultimately the success of
the painting can only be truly judged by the painter himself, as only the painter can truly know
the level of honesty given to its creation and therefore how more open he was to inspiration or

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