One of the most beneficial ways for me to work, on a personal level, is to produce a ‘body of work.’ It has been a while since I have worked solidly on a collection of paintings.

The Phosphenes Collection was released in spring 2015, which led to a period of being inundated with commission requests, following on from Phosphenes and the Spectrum Collection. (Released Oct 2014) In between this influx of work I have managed to work on subjects and styles that I couldn’t hold back on trying in order to keep up my own personal rate of progression and creativity,  peppering small boutique collections of Limited Edition prints throughout the year. With commission waiting lists reaching up to 12 months for an original, it can become increasingly hard to expand and grow with your style and improve on your talent.

Commissions can hold a different type of creative beauty in having a framework to adjust to make your own. If the subject is chosen, or a certain size or shape canvas is necessary, then working to fit these margins can be a challenge that is incredibly satisfying to meet.

However in terms of new work, after keeping your head in the mindset of previous works, which commission requests are drawn from, it can be hard when naturally your spirit wants you to try new things.

I am very excited that I am prepping to start my next collection, to be released in spring 2016. 

It is of massive importance to me to work on a body of work solidly for a while. It is how I work best. Working on a collection is to be working on a number of pieces that are all interlinked and laced together. They cannot be produced separately or with other work in mind. There becomes a certain way of creating that a single painting doesn’t reap the benefits of. Things become accidental, or purposefully adjusted throughout all paintings, certain marks left in only one piece and certain brush strokes that you might want to continue over the whole collection. For them to accidentally conjoin through the palette running low on one shade, to then be topped up and the next few adjustments on a couple of paintings boasting the same tones. Its these small things that cannot be planned, cannot be recreated and cannot be faked. Working on a whole collection is such an outlet for everything going on in one period of time. When I look back at past collections I see a snippet of myself from that moment in time.

The next collection is already set to be an outpour of everything I have been craving to work on, mixed with challenges to enhance on what I already know. My ideas, concepts and plans are set to be my best and strongest work yet. I won’t be posting anything from the next collection until it is officially launched.

I am so excited to get completely engrossed in this mammoth task…