Entering the winter of 2010, with its poured concrete sky and deadzone feel, it was time to start dabbling.



A punkier, freer, fresher and more playful approach to the figure was required. I mean,  I was in a position to render anything in whatever medium happened to be to hand. But things were getting too sure, and stale somehow. Like one great rainy Sunday afternoon. And what's the solution to such wet window lethargy?

Dabbling! 
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In this a happy accident came to my aid. I am a bit of a bin-raker and skip-scoper by nature: recycler then, if you prefer - and a large horde of old posters of a really quite weak Ensor still-life turned up in a paper bin at just the right moment. Something went click. I'd just stood on my rosy-tinted spectacles. This freed up the eyes for something new. An unconventional approach was called for. The playfully Kindergarten method of draping pain-soaked string onto the posters had a delightfully Pollock-meets-Ernst-while-boozing-with-Bacon quality. As much of the background would be retained as possible and reacting to it would keep the palette simple, the markmaking direct and hopefully eloquent. Spontaneous and rapid simplifications with DIY shop dispersion and white emulsion saw a great family of characters - hierarchies and dynasties of types and dispositions - emerge and grow. In their happenstance energy and cheeky thereness they reflect us all, past, present and future. But then, we are all just spinning yarns...  

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