Title: “Shadows Under The Surface”
Medium:Acrylic on canvas
Size:36″X36″
Price: $3,600.00
When the gallery asked me what kind of fish were depicted in the painting I said I wasn;t sure. I’ve never been able to tell one fish from another! It might sound odd that I wouldn’t care but it is not important to me. It’s the same when I paint flowers. I am never sure if I am painting tulips or roses. (I do know the difference but it is just that the actual choice is not important to me. It is always about all the other stuff.) It’s about the spirit of the subject and what that represents in the work. The magic of a creature that can defy logic and still breath while under the water takes me into another world. I also love the abstract shadows that follow the fish everywhere they explore.
People try to understand their world in their own way. When I was travelling by horseback in the wilderness with a group of friends, I was struck by how differently each of us interacted with the experience. Some would pour over maps trying to understand exactly where they would go. Some would have a device that could tell them where they had come from. Some would have their focus on the inner workings of the camera trying to record every minute. I tended to spend my time just taking it all in with my eyes and I didn;t particularly care where we had come from or where we were going. Everyone was different and had their own way.
I was drawn back to this image after having created a series of these works in the past. Sometimes it is good to take a look back and see what you can do with it in a new way. I was always fascinated by the fish in the small streams in Scotland as a young boy.
Life is full of shadows and light. Contrasts help us fully appreciate every aspect of our lives.
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