When flames and snakes are your neighbours, they can't help but be part of the story.
This rough, heavy-duty cotton canvas has been in my studio for probably eight years. It was unprimed, so I spent months applying thin layers of oil paint before it went anywhere. I like the dryness that comes from all that soakage and the roughness of the surface.
There were wildfires near the sea, and you could see the glow of orange at night in the distance. I was grappling with a shape similar to the one I am painting here back in Ireland. I tried it again when I got to Italy, but it wasn't until I saw the shape as a flame that it unlocked itself.
On some of the smaller landscapes, these flames appeared at the base. They don't feel too threatening, more like comic cutouts. Once the flames jumped from these smaller canvases to the large "Lemon, Not Just a Strange Beast" - they took off.
I can see the influences of dry Italian lime walls decaying in the sun in the background wash of "Lemon, Not Just a Strange Beast". This piece has a whole other aspect, but I don't want to box it in - it tells its own story.
I was going for a walk up one of the mountains when a little dark snake slithered in front of me. Being Irish, I don't often see snakes, so it left an impression on me. I have been sketching and painting snakes on paper for a while now. They came from spending a lot of time looking at old masters in the Berlin Museums, but seeing them in the wild is a fresh experience. "Lemon, Not Just a Strange Beast" is the first oil painting with a snake. I just could never get them to work in oil before.
Even though they are abstract paintings, I see them as imprints or reconstructions of the Italian landscape.
The Grammar of Clouds - Solo Exhibition at John Martin Gallery, Mayfair London
26th April - 19th May 2023
