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In the studio

Here are some shots of a painting I've been working on since May, and which I've been adding to recently:

I'm using acrylic gels, pouring mediums, and modelling paste to build up the textures. Then I lay the canvas flat and pour fluid acrylics and reflective paints freely over the surface, which then settle down and dry in the surface:

Instead of a brush, I use needle applicators (plastic paint bottles with a nozzle at the top) to draw these circular patterns all over the surface (they're based on piles of coal). Then I'm repeating the process several times over:

I've been trying all year to introduce figures, buildings, shapes that would more directly imply narrative, but so far I keep getting lost in this basic mucking around with texture, and one basic idea - the 'coal mountain' shape. After painting over and painting out again and again, I'm now resigned to just letting it happen, to keep on with this process, and then I'll just see what emerges when the surface of the canvas waves the white flag and says: "Please, no more!"

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