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 FloatAs I struggled to render water while painting the salmon run last year I gained new respect and awe for the thousands of master painters who have dealt with it as subject matter. The greatest compliments given me were from viewers who compared my work with Monet! How utterly splendid! It was not, however, just the nice compliments that instigated the FLOAT series but my real fascination with distortion, reflection, refraction. Using photos taken during my own pool sessions as a basis for many of the canvases, I have been delighted by painting the distortions, with trying to capture what the camera freezes but what our brains and eyes compensate for. It is really exciting to examine these photographs of wonky figures, normal from shoulders up but then dissolving into impossibly misshapen blobs. By applying a complementary colour as a ground on my canvas I am attempting to convey the sort of tension that water can hold for many people. My figures are lone, vulnerable, uneasy, struggling in this medium that is simultaneously supportive and dangerous, the most vital element to all life and a quick and silent taker of life as well.
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