Abstract portraiture
When I paint a commission for someone I know well, their personality inevitably finds its way into the work.
Not literally - all my work is abstract. I'm not trying to paint them figuratively, or choosing a particular colour because it's their favourite. But I inevitably hold them in my mind as I'm painting, and aspects of their character become part of the creative process.
It's a subtle thing. As I paint, I might be listening to music that I associate with them, or my brain may be idly scrolling through memories of them. A particular colour emerges, a particular movement or mood. I allow those subconscious associations to inform my creative decisions - and see what happens.
For me, this goes back to the first painting I ever fell in love with: The Spectator by Howard Hodgkin. It was the first time I realised that a painting could convey a whole world of character and personality through colour and shape alone.
For one recent commission, it wasn't just the person who commissioned the painting I had in mind, but the whole family - including two small daughters with an apparently inexhaustible supply of energy and warmth. The family's connections to New Orleans, the music and food of that place. The humour that runs through all my interactions with them.
None of those things appear literally in the painting. But undeniably they are part of it.
I find this one of the most interesting things about making an abstract painting. The connections aren't conscious. I don't think, this colour represents X. Instead, through the process of making, the analytical part of my brain quietens down, and associations, memories and sensations can find their way into the work without being translated into anything literal.
And hopefully that's what keeps the painting interesting. A commission that is going into someone's home is a huge honour - and a challenge. If a painting is going to become part of somebody else's everyday life, I want it to reward their attention for years to come.
Something that changes with the light and the seasons. Something with enough variation in colour and texture that it keeps revealing new details.
A reason to pause for a moment, and look again.