The past few years have been transformative in the way I live and make art and there has been much growth in the process by which I make paintings. I realized that since childhood I had always expressed my best self through creativity, it was a go to means of communication for me, although I had not realized how important the language of paint was in my life. Learning to express myself genuinely through the language of paint has been paramount to my painting over the past decade and the catalyst for finding my muse and an honest subject matter was found in my move to the country. Expressing myself through paint is who I am. Paint has no limitations for me, it offers simplicity in my life and it’s a way of being within the quiet. I have dedicated my days to exploring through paint my relationship with the natural world and sojourn into the quiet through simple quiet musings.
Making a painting has been an evolution developed through ongoing discovery in hours dedicated time exploring ideas, led by steadfast perseverance through overwhelming adversity, however faced with an open minded approach ultimately this devotion has transferred into my paintings. For years I have been practicing my art in a forward then backwards series of steps, each painting leading me somewhere requiring me to at times step both backwards and forwards with my process. I am reminded by a quote by the late Artist Chuck Close, ‘‘’Every great idea I’ve had grew out of work itself.” I relate to his words wholeheartedly and personally this commitment to my works has grown into the process with which I make paintings today.
For me making paintings is a way of being which I honour with space and time. Each day is approached with presence accepting whatever life it brings my way, good days are always for painting. Some days I need rest and quiet, this is not negotiable. Living closely with the natural world I experience many small offerings, it is through being present in these moments that the seed for a painting comes to me. Sometimes a photography captures the moment and other times a quick observational sketch will be what it takes to make a painting back in my studio. Reminded by words of the late Artist Agnes Martin, “Beauty isn’t something you look at, it’s something you enter.” In my experience with looking at the landscape, it is the essence which I painting. I digest the essence of moments bringing my experience inwards where it intimately becomes a vision, only to bring it outwards while making a painting.
Working out the details is key to my process as I am referencing the essence of an experience with looking at nature. Words can’t describe what it is I am trying to paint, only paint can do this for me. I have sketchbooks which help me to work through details, making loose pencil sketch with values, colour and forms help me to move quickly into the composition. It has helped that I have developed a format which I follow for creating a composition that fits my style of painting. Colour is worked into the painting from memory and photographic reference is used only sparingly for values and to create balance within my composition. I often explore the colour palette in my head as I see colours more vividly and differently from others, this part of my practice being innate, almost indescribable. For those who connect with my palette it is because of the way I see and paint colour into my works.
With a keen interest in the use of texture I work up panels significantly prior to beginning a painting. This process of laying in texture that I have developed allows for a raw surface which plays as a more authentic surface to paint on, much like the landscape itself the layers of texture is read as line in the painted composition. In fact, recently the way in which I apply texture to my panels changed, speaking of working backwards and forward and now I use this approach with texture application in all my paintings. Many tried and true techniques in painting have also been developed over time, held close to my heart and are used steadfast in each painting. Paintings are worked up on wood panel using hard bodied acrylics with a thoughtful approach to the building of layers using colour, values and texture.
Every painting is made with a formula whereby I begin deconstructing formations found in the surrounding landscape building a painting through the push and pull of light and colour values, the use of thick impasto brushstrokes and loose palette knife work, layers of acrylic paint are applied, scraped backed and reworked. Reducing images into simpler forms is import to my composition allowing focus to be on colour while still being able to identify the forms within the painting. Ultimately creating surfaces on birch panel that emerge as luminous woven landscapes, always settling somewhere in between the abstract and realism.
Painting mimics the same quiet presence which I find in the natural world as they are one and the same. My mind quiets and my body allows me to just be, absorbed in my process often without thought absorbed in the act of making paintings. I take much pride in my painting process as it holds great meaning to myself being that my art and life are one. I believe is ultimately how my paintings communicate with the viewer as they are a genuine expression of myself through the language of paint.
Jane Holden | Contemporary Painter 