I have no idea what the green shape is or where it came from, but there is a real calmness to it as it watches over the other shapes play. Many of these shapes start as drawings and eventually jump into the oil paintings. I remember that red line shell-like shape in the left-hand corner from a drawing I did on one of the silkscreens from Berlin. The dark sculpture shape in the top right-hand corner was in a series of ink drawings that I later tore up. It conjures up a ceramic, almost desert landscape quality that I like.
When you stretch a large canvas, there is usually a strip of fabric left, which is perfect for making these small 20x30 cm stretchers. I have them lying around the studio, and they are often the first place I might try a new shape in oil paint. That abstract bird in the top left flew in from one of those tiny canvases.
That’s about as much conscious input as I can trace in this piece. Most of it is unknown to me, and the process of painting it is enough, but if I had to hazard a guess, it is a work about nature, a landscape painting.
The painting can be viewed at John Martin Gallery, London.
A Landscape You Owned | oil on canvas | 150 x 120 cm | 2022
