This is the second in my series of 12″x12″ (c30xc30cms) acrylic painting series ‘L’Isle-Adam’. (Despite the fact it’s labelled ‘L’Isle-Adam IV’!) It isn’t as grainy as this but it has been enormously difficult to photograph and this is the best I can do.

There are many layers to this, consisting largely of lines, marks and coloured glazes, as I’ve struggled to develop the forms and composition. I’ve learnt a great deal by way of techniques that I can carry into future paintings so despite its shortcomings I’m quite happy to move on from this. I may come back to further adjust it. But I think it needed to have been done using a bigger panel. But I’m calling all of my new paintings studies.

I’ve been looking at the work of Cy Twombly recently. The 2008 exhibition of his work at Tate Modern is listed on Tate Org under the heading of Process and Energy. I was drawn to this in the description of his work:

“He incorporated graffiti-like pencil scribbles onto the surfaces of his early paintings, introducing elements of hesitancy and fragility into the confident physical gestures of abstract expressionist painting.”

It has occurred to me that my studies could perhaps be better described as coloured drawings. In this one, I’ve used soft graphite pencil and acrylic pens, as well as scoring instruments. I’ll be taking a closer look at what different kinds of marks might be brought to represent. And how other artists use their marks.

2021 has brought me to new crossroads from which to explore and record my discoveries on new poetic maps. It’s been quite a surprise.

I’m thinking of the Buddhist proverb: “When the student is ready, the Master appears.”