welcome
to the Life Force private view
The Life Force paintings were made between 2019 and 2021 and appear in my book Life Force published by Bird Eye Books.
I first encountered Ted Hughes’ poetry as a teenager
here were the huge things i felt but could not name. here was the world I wanted to inhabit; a world that was alive with drama and feeling.
I have been fascinated by Ted Hughes and his work ever since that emotional first introduction, and I now understand more about the power of his work. Hughes believed art had the power to tap into universal energies and to use them for good. He saw the artist as healer and shaman, and I believe it is his rare ability to tap into this elemental power that makes him one of the great writers of our time.
In 2019, I finally felt ready to to develop a series of works inspired by Hughes, seeking to tap into some of those same elemental forces
“Force of Nature 35cm x 75cm mixed media on canvas
This video tells the story of the project - my initial inspiration, my approach, and the final paintings …
the yorkshire moors are a place of stark beauty.
Hughes’ love of nature was unsentimental - he saw its darkness as well as its beauty. His poetry crackles with energy and conjures up worlds. He believed art should be equal to the experience it sought to convey and he believed authentic expression was everything.
I hope these paintings express some of these ideas. I hope you feel the wind and hear the curlews and sense the wide empty sky. Most of all I hope you feel the life force that runs through it all
get the whole story
“Life Force” describes the making of these paintings and contains beautiful images of each one
If you have a question about any of these paintings,
send me your message here.
I’ll get back to you asap
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