The sequence paintings seen in this area of the
exhibition form a loose pentaptych (group of five works).

The most frequently asked question of an artist is ‘how
long did that take?’, the answer is always; ‘a lifetime’. A lifetime because
the progression from idea to completion for a painting is for me rarely
instant. I have thousands of ideas stored up in various ways and the gestation
period for a painting can be many years. ‘Blackbuck’ was an idea I had perhaps
fourteen years ago, the idea for ‘White Hart’ came about within a few days of
completing ‘Blackbuck’ as a response to it and with reference to ‘Stalking
Horse’. This is a good example of how within ones work cross pollination happens
and of how series develop into a body of work therefore perhaps a style
although I am wary of repeating myself. Indeed, painting as a practice is
involved setting oneself a new set of challenges and problems to solve. And
once solved moving onto the next. However:

Over the last year I have been experimenting with new
painting techniques, methods and materials in a concerted attempt to combine
specific elements of my work with charcoal with others from my work in oil.

Working with charcoal on paper has some obvious
limitations; paper is fragile, it is white/off white (and impossible to get
toned paper for my larger works), and one cannot add ‘wet’ media to it. But
there are also limitations when using charcoal on canvas or linen (especially if
stretched and primed): it just does not take or behave in the same way as it
does on paper and, again, doesn’t combine well with wet media such as oil
becoming smeared easily if the support is sealed.

Nevertheless, and after much experimentation with
different types of canvas and linen - none of them wholly satisfactory I
happened to be given some Belle Arti oil primed linen in late 2025. By using
the ‘back’ of the primed linen I found had a surface with tooth and texture
which would hold the charcoal and chalk in the weave, locked into the surface.
In addition, I could tone and stain the whole surface with very thin oil paint
and because the primer sealed the linen on the now reversed side, I could
achieve a very even matt tone over which the charcoal and chalk could be
applied in much the same manner as on paper.

This meant I could retain the drawing on a robust support
and paint in oil simultaneously in the same image in such a way as to
arrive at the unity between the two I had long been seeking.

I first used this new method in the Stalking Horse and
quickly moved onto first Blackbuck and White Hart; one a darker against a light
background and vice versa making a pair.

In all this sequence I also wanted to reduce the
compositions to their essence. By removing the contextualising narrative of the
backgrounds to the minimum the focus if fully on the vivacity of the animal
depicted. This also has the effect of amplifying the uncanny, particularly when
(as they all do) the animal is looking directly at the viewer. This direct
address is something that has always been a preoccupation of mine whether the
subject is birds, animals or indeed landscape: what I want to set up is an
encounter between the viewer (us) and the subject (the animal) such that we
also become the subject and the viewed animal.