As an abstract artist it cannot be surprising that I am drawn to pattern. This past year I have found myself exploring it more, but I have yet to see it express itself in finished work, inspite of the fact that it's the repeated sound of rain, the pattern of its fall, that is drawing me to these expressions.
I can get lost in pattern the same way I get lost in listening to, watching, or walking in the rain. There is something hypnotic about it. It prompts me to be more mindful and grounded in the moment, by the focus it demands. On the one hand symmetry requires concentration and measured mark making, whilst aysmmetry needs you to let go. I enjoy exploring both.
Symmetrical work has a religious quality to it. Is it the calming nature of the pattern I wonder? I want to bring that meditative feeling out in what I do. I can see larger, beautifully smooth works, set in frames and adorning walls. Statement pieces that hold you for a moment and keep you looking at them, wondering: as with the picture below. There are hints of hidden symbolism and meaning that I love.
And when you coupe that with colour the effects can be mesmerising. Certainly the blue below contributes to that effect and brings with it great opportunities for layering. Hooray for transparent pigments!
Pattern - playing with cropping and digital repetition of my images to create new patterns and explore symmetry
Conversely asymmetrical work brings me energy and a sense of flow. The landscape ones feel as if they move you along within a space, suggesting movement in time and an emerging narrative. A story not quite yet formed or finished. Where is this piece taking me I wonder? In works like these I see flight, birds, trees in wind, rivers and rocks, hills, clouds - nature in fact. Whereas the portrait examples, even in small scale and far from developed (like the biro sketch below) suggest a physical presence and life force sitting in a landscape.
So from these I find myself considering almost 3 separate avenues of work. They sit within my theme and are related to rain; but they work in different ways. Do I develop them all and contrast them, finding impact in that contrast? Or do I pursue just one? I think I have to do the former.
A typical exploration of abstract pattern on a large scale - acrylic on paper 75cm high x 150cm long
A typical exploration of abstract pattern on a small scale - biro on paper scrap