The Story Of A Painting.. 'Battle and Break'

I am often asked ‘how long does a painting take to make?” or ‘how many layers make up a single painting?’ The annoying answer is that I don’t know. I can give an estimate based on size and medium but because I work on up to 10 paintings at once, all at different stages dotted around the studio, it’s tricky to add up. 

I’ll jump from one painting to the next, maybe 10 minutes on a blue one, then 40 minutes on the next, then 2 hours on a biggie, which I become consumed in. This method keeps me moving forwards; especially if I become frustrated with one which isn’t working. I can ignore it for a day, a week or even an entire month and continue with the others until I can figure out where to take it next. 

Studio shot - 10 small paintings in progress dotted about.

I did this at the end of last year, I purposely ignored a painting. It was like an irritating wasp which kept pestering me every time I saw it. So I turned the messy 1 x 1 metre wood panel around and put it in the ‘naughty corner’. I knew it had potential but I couldn't figure out how to bring it all together. I thought; I cant handle you right now, you can stay there until New Year. It stayed there until 3 months later, I still didn't attempt to tackle it until March. Some paintings just take longer than others. 

Here’s the progression of that painting ‘Battle and Break’:

To begin, I used big brushes, generous paint and cut up paper. I was just trying to put in large shapes and colour to give me something to react to. It quickly started to look like a seascape so I pushed this idea further.

Stage one

Eeek too far, too far! I had put a lot in but didn't like it; it was starting to look like a generic seascape, nothing too dramatic, no energy and there were too many small sections of colour. 

Stage 2

Then an iceberg / mountain suddenly appeared. It started to look like something I had seen on my travels in Iceland and had a lot more presence and power to it. The sea was building with some lovely textures and shapes but it was confused. I wasn't worried at this point as it still felt like early days for it. 

Then stages 4, 5 , 6 and 7 were all about building textures, thin layers of colour and interesting areas. I knew there was too much going on; there was colour, shape and flicks of paint. My eye was jumping all over the place not leading through the piece. Then when my eyes did finally settle, I would always look to the top of that over powering mountain. I was ready to paint it all white at this point but chose to turn it around instead.

3 months later.. with fresh eyes and a whole new series of work completed (now in galleries), the studio was looking pretty empty. I was ready to look that irritating wasp of a painting straight in the eyes and tell him to bugger off! But, I saw it completely differently this time around. 

I had new perspective and felt less attached. Thinking ‘there’s nothing to lose here’ I could clarify what I liked and didn’t like and make changes for the better. I could rationalise what needed to stand out and which parts needed lightening. I had to guts to soften that dominating mountain edge which I kept fixating on. It was complete in under a week and most importantly, I loved the final result… (see it below).

‘Battle and Break’ original painting has now sold but you can choose a fine art print here