'Metal' series

I call this series 'Metal' because it began (well, mostly) during a residency at Metal Culture studio, Edge Hill station, Liverpool. The organisation is called Metal because it started in an old studio of sculptor Anthony Caro, in which they found various abandoned pieces of metal (as you might expect for Caro's old studio).

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I had been working on large pieces of paper before this, from as far back as 2007, but it was at the Edge Hill studio space that the work became more realist, and I experimented with overlaying different contrasting mediums - in part to suggest 'hallucinations' occurring over a 'pure' vision of both an accepted, semi-industrial view, and a desire to be in a more exhilarating, romantic kind of landscape.

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Several years later, in the run up to a big solo exhibition at The Williamson gallery and museum, I had most of them photographed by Steve Dodd, who was very patient and thorough in setting up the large sheets of paper and getting the lighting just right, in what proved to be rather tricky pieces to photograph (making sure the white of the paper was as bright as possible without detracting from the strength and clarity of the actual painted images).