As a child, before knowledge, our ability to place ourselves within the wider context of our existence is minimal and so our perception of the world is mainly made up of what we experience first-hand. To put this in terms of Geography: when we don’t know many places, the places that we do know seem all-encompassing and of all importance - our own world. Perhaps this is why many feel a pang of nostalgia and sentimentality for the place in which they grew up? My earlier work evolved through my interest in this. I was excited by the possibility of re-awakening childhood memories; recapturing the feeling of being within the immense (but now considerably smaller) and mysterious (now less exciting) landscape of one’s past through the medium of paint. For me, this landscape was set within the Buckinghamshire countryside.

However, a representational painting comes face to face with a viewer, potentially many different viewers, and is greeted with their own thoughts and opinions on what they see. In hind-sight the second stage of work developed as my response to the works reception. It had, so far, illustrated my belief that art should exist in order to provide an enjoyable and emotive experience for the viewer. Perhaps it should? That is one opinion. Frequently the subject of my work can be termed as ‘escapist’: offering a window to another place - a better place, whether that be retreating into one’s wistful memory or tampering with reality to create a beautiful ideal or arcadia. However there is also the question of truth in painting, and it is, I discovered, an important one when concerning the British rural landscape….

The history of landscape painting has shown that there is an ongoing battle between its lovers and its critics - those that believe in celebrating our ‘green fields’ and ‘our heritage’ and those who sweep it aside as being merely decorative with little worthwhile substance. However the battle itself, is substance. I think it brings to light the question of a rural/urban divide-one which ties the countryside to associations of innocence, backwardness, leisure and beauty. It tackles issues of national identity in our increasingly global culture as well as issues of class and the ‘poshness’ entwined with countryside traditions. This has all played on my mind during the development of my work.

At present we are experiencing an age of excessive media and imagery; visual culture in overdrive for everyone to see. What’s more there is an increasing number of people who have infrequent contact with our countryside, so the way in which it is depicted through visual culture and art is more likely to form opinions and have consequences. I consider that to be important. If there is a desire to celebrate and exploit what we hold dear to us in terms of beauty and sentiment then should we be concerned with the potential consequences? If we tamper with reality, should we point to or undermine the illusion? Paint can be the means of that illusion; this is my concern and one which underpins my work.

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