Expressionists influence - by Michael Heseltine
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Vlaminck, Kirchner, Franz Marc, Wassily Kandinsky and Andre Derain paintings have all influenced me since moving to Scotland. The energy and vibrant style is not unlike some of the Scottish colourists and both styles are suited to the Scottish landscape. This painting was particularly inspired by Vlaminck.
I enjoy the process of clearing my mind of all thoughts of technique and trusting to a simple direct approach. Limiting the space between perception and the resultant mark on the canvas is one ambition. Too many thoughts and techniques removes the reality into a process of picture making and not an honest response to the observations.
With this painting I made no premeditations of the landscape, I just responded. Thoughts of paintings by Vlaminck and the Scottish colourists passed through my mind but I tried to discipline myself not to dwell on too many previously seen works, as that could detract from my own true response. However, we are also a sum of our own experiences and these can never be totally rejected.
Colour and pattern making echoes the emotional feeling I had and contributes to the vocabulary I use to express these feelings. I like the painting to be partly representational, but also a creation of mood and experience, which depicts the whole landscape around me, and what it was like to be there. In many ways it is a painting of me at 40 years old and my attitude to life.
Recent thoughts
I am often reminded that great abstract artists could draw representationally like a dream....Picasso. Being able to do this enables one to then know how to abstract. I suppose the very word absraction dictates that you have to have a substantial amount from which to abstract something from. In art this means you have to acquire a library of ideas and technical ability and from this you can abstract or distill your perceptions. In other words you have had to explore all the avenues and have a complete understanding of a subject or medium before you can start abstracting. I have never been confident about abstract art until very recently. For the last ten years my work has had an abstract element but I have noticed it is often subtle and hidden. Recently I have begun to annalyse the painting I premeditate in my mind when I first get that rush of inspiration. I realise that this vision is often watered down in the final painting. This has been through a lack of confidence and conviction. I think that their is a need to conform but after a while this need is overtaken by a realization that often the result is dishonest. The final painting does not portray the real reason I wanted to paint that subject. It is a synthesise of perception and ability to produce an attractive painting. It is safe with perhaps a hint of the real motivation. I have brought the painting back to what I believe is a more acceptable and accesable state. I have often been seduced into showing off a practical skill and avoiding the more difficult challenge....truth. Recently I have identified that initial inspiration and managed to be more faithful to it. It is strange that I am living in Scotland and this new work is similar to the Scottish colourists. I'm sure it is no coincidence that certain locations demand and influence a style. The new style is very much created from a new confidence. I know what I want to do. With this conviction the painting does not compramise its direction. I feel no need to hesitate in its execution, and withdraw back into compramise for the sake of mass acceptance. I have gained this conviction from having built up that library of experience. I have flirted with all sorts of styles and realised that they all have this initial inspiration that is then diluted. Perhaps age has an effect. I need to use my art to explore my world. What is the point in painting dishonestly. I have feelings, I should run with them and not hide. This makes the work unique, only I could have done it. It is an amalgamation of all my experiences. I think this process is a decision that all artists should face. We can try and reproduce work inspired by the witnessed success of others, or we can take the risk of creating unique and original work from within. We can limit ourselves to representational work or distil the subject through our emotions and not be afraid of what develops. It is important to make the journey through the conventional in order to be equiped to continue into the unknown. Like the absract artist, you have to know how to draw first.
I feel very liberated and excited at the thought of casting out all the demons of convention. I feel I am doing something important, and I can do it. I have done my time...and its pay back. I realise that the last ten years has been vital to arrive at this point. I've always known that. I've always known that my time will come...but I think it is now here. The irony is that it is not marked by outward reward. It cannot be seen by sudden wealth or people rushing to congatulate me. It is personal. I have arrived. This work is honest and echos my soul. I can live with this and not feel I am cheating my self.
The work is bold and dances with energy. It contains a story, like a memory. If we go for a walk we remember a day later moments of that walk. This is what I paint. The moments and elements that are really important. The map of a memory. A feeling produced by the combination of two colours can explain and capture the essence of life. We don't need to paint the whole landscape, just two brush marks can say it all. Its finding those two marks that is the challenge. You cannot manufacture them, you find them from an honest look within.
I need to make my work have purpose. I need to explore emotion. I have discovered that the subject matter need not be dramatic or contrived. All emotion can be discovered in a tree moving in the wind. There is no need to travel, no exotic cities will give you the answers. These cities may have provided the answers for their creators, but feeding off their discoveries will not always forefill you. They may be a starting point, but subject matter is becoming less important. Painting my thoughts and memories I am finding much more rewarding.
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