Colour is this sort of instinctive force, even before I’ve planned a painting, I’ve usually chosen at least the main colour, or picked say, two or three main colours and I just go on from there. I limit it to that which stops me from using every single colour I can. Normally one colour becomes the predominant one, the winner, and I find different tones within that. I feel like I pick up hints and colour ideas from all over –, to be honest, from the constant stream of images we all encounter every day, I can’t always pinpoint where they come from.
I want to find that same contrast that you get in the old master’s use of chiaroscuro techniques, but with a contemporary palette. Before starting the large pieces, I do these small abstracted colour studies on paper to resolve what works together and then just go for it, I’ll often exhibit them alongside the final works to explain the process.