What do you see ? - January 2024

I am fascinated by composition and at one time my paintings were full and busy with detail. Currently I love to explore how relatively little can be needed to give the eye, the brain and the heart to explore. The ‘Beith’ series of prints in my Trees portfolio is a celebration of light, of colour and hope. I was striving for a simplicity in these prints with pleasing textural qualities (more about these wabi-wabi effects will be in my next blog. These reflections developed as I curated the prints for presentation in my online portfolio.

My eyes have learnt to scan from left to right and top to bottom. I was brought up and educated in Western Europe and this influences my left to right scanning because this is how we read. If I had grown up in the Middle East or Asia I might scan from right to left or bottom to top. Perversely when I flick through a book; I do it from back to front.

Within the ‘Beith’ series I wanted to create a print that depicted one lone tree separate from others. Because my prints are square and they go back and forth through the press with each layer of ink; I repeatedly look at prints one way up and then the other. When I made the print at the head of this page, I first saw it with the larger dark area to the left and the wavering line to the right. It looked like the wavering line was left behind or pushed away from the solid. It looked weaker and unstable. I rotated the print by 180 degrees as it is presented above and then saw it entirely differently. My eyes now saw the wavering line as delicate and confident. It was followed by the bigger area to the right which somehow appeared less dominant. The finer line was stepping out first. It was brave enough to stand alone.

For this reason, I decided to publish the print with the finer line in its new more confident place to the left. It is in celebration of those who make a stand, who are brave enough to be themselves and to stand up for something or someone that matters.

I hope that you enjoy looking at these prints one way up and then the other. One of them even has a tiny heart shape hidden inside. Enjoy