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I have had a health scare and had to go into hospital for a colonoscopy. The good news is that I don't have colon cancer, which was my biggest fear. I had a polyp, which was removed, as they can turn into cancer. I just have to have regular check ups from now on. Also, my mother went into hospital to have a large brain tumour removed. The operation went well, thanks to all the staff at Addenbrooke's hospital, Cambridge, and she is on the mend.
My daily travels to visit her in the hospital and my own minor operation were both on my mind when I finally got back into the studio the other week ready to do some work. Since discovering my mum had a brain tumour, I had found it impossible to paint anything figurative. What could I possibly depict that would say how I felt? I simply couldn't. So I had begun a series of abstract works. All of which were mainly colour studies. I have been reading Kandinsky's book "Concerning the Spiritual in Art", as well as the writings of Peter Lanyon and Roger Hilton. I worked on contrast, colour and balance in the overall design of each painting. I felt, however, that far from being about anything in particular, they ended up as just colour studies. I needed something to work from, something to abstract.
I ended up filling a sketchbook with very quick drawings in pen from my experience of the hospital. When I was lying on a gurney being wheeled around an operating theatre, and indeed when I was under sedation, I was aware of how different the world seems, with no "correct" perspective. I could almost see the operating theatre from four different points of view - from the three people working in there as well as from my own.
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| The Hospital Trip, Oil on canvas, 150 x 100cm (work in progress) 2012 |
