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WORKS ON PAPER

I have been working on the same paper since 1988. Occasionally I cut the paper to a specific size., but usually I accept the given size of 128 cm 90 cm. I like the idea of a given - something I take for granted. I feel one of the common treads of my work is this acceptance that the site, whether it be a building or a piece of paper comes with an existing set of circumstances. These situations are the material I work with.

The method I use on the paper is almost completely the same. The paper itself is a tough industrial paper that I buy direct from the manufacturer. Its usually for printing high gloss images. This means it is coated and has a shiny water resistant material.

I pencil in a drawing first the using an etching tool scratch in the pencil marks. Sometimes I cut a layer of the paper away. This exposes the fibre beneath.

I then rub oil stick into the scratched and exposed areas. The next method is erasure. I may leave the oil on the paper for a few weeks or minutes and the kind of line that I get depends on this and also on the persistence of the erasure with white spirit.

I have different levels of control, the weight of my hand the speed, the amount of white spirit are all variables.

Sometimes I scratch on to the oiled areas.

Rembrandt self-portrait 2009

Works 2014