LOVE STRIPES

I do love stripes, you only have to look around my home to know that. Most of the roman blinds and curtains are striped tickings of different colours. I have striped rugs, mats and often incorporate stripes into my work, or, in this case, the stripes are the artwork.

This large canvas (90cms x 90cms) is in my dining room.  It was inspired by a piece of wrapping paper.  Inspiration can come from anywhere. If I see something that attracts my attention, I put a sample in a file, or if that is not possible, take a picture, sketch or at least make a note for future use. Unusually for me, this work is just playing around with acrylic paint with no other layers creating texture.  The thin lines were painted with a furniture liner brush which has extremely long bristles which hold a lot of paint, ideal for painting long lines.

One of my favourite abstract artists is Sean Scully, the Irish-born American painter and printmaker who has been twice nominated for the Turner Prize and whose work has been collected by museums all over the world.  His large oil paintings consist of wonderfully atmospheric stripes that tell a story.  If you feel tempted to paint some striped abstracts, I suggest you have a look at his work first.