being in the studio

Making art is not separate from real life. It is real life.

Making art pervades everything, how you spend each moment.

A couple of ideas have been working within and around each other in my mind. The first is mindfulness. I have practised this in a Buddhist way for a long time now. Lately, I’ve been bringing it more and more into the studio.

‘peace’ | 2025 | 120 × 120 × 4cm | acrylic, sand & household paint on canvas

I’m surprised at the kaleidoscope of experience that I have whilst I’m painting. And I’ve been surprised at how often I begin to lose conscious presence, and how interesting it is to re-embody myself, mixing a colour, applying paint, appreciating the consistency of the paint, the effect of it on the canvas amidst the other elements.

And then another influence within me lately is Japanese minimalism. And this isn’t something I’ve consciously been bringing into painting, but rather a way of being in my home and studio.

The idea is to tune into what is essential, and to let go of extraneous complexities. So, with your things in a room, you need to keep only what really matters to you, then shed the other things.

‘peace’ as above

It isn’t easy. Our stuff feels as though it’s part of us, that if we let go of it, we make ourselves vulnerable. And we lose things of value, making us poor in some way, making us weaker because we don’t have that thing that one day we might want – just in case.

But, the more you hone, the better you feel.

It is a beautiful thing to seek presence through the act of painting. And this process works in harmony with my decluttering.

And painting and life then take on the same mindful tenor. The presence of painting is at work with the way I open the windows. The way I nurture plants. The way I mend the house.

‘somewhere’ | 2024 | 100 × 120 × 4cm | acrylic & mixed media on canvas

The way I notice all the emotions – the depression, the frustration, the joy.

Sure, there are many moments that I’m not aware of – most of them. And the weird digital world, the weird commercial world are both there in the core of things, hidden in plain view. But the consciousness keeps opening the light into these areas too; cleans them.

The studio is a place where I am waking up.

Explore more of my paintings.