The paintings on this page go back to around 2005. Until then I'd painted largely non-representational (or abstract) pieces, concentrating on the surface and striving for optical flatness. I've always drawn a lot and have a great affection for decorative objects so these started to appear in the paintings, much in a kind of post cubist style similar to Mary Fedden and others. They were very nice but I found them unsatisfying, schematic and formulaic. They lacked the sheer variety and uncertainty of looking closely at things I took for granted. And I missed the rich culture of illusory space that is a constant of western painting. These painting are roughly in chronological order and include some of the architectural references that I have used in my later work. Please click on thumbnails for full image.
