I found a number of parallels with the start of ‘Studio Practice’ to elements of ‘Concepts in Practice’ where the emphasis was on breaking out of traditional notions of what painting is. The focus is towards the experimental, to challenge the student, to open up new possibilities and challenges.

Some of the exercises required me to think in ways about painting that I have previously only given passing consideration. An example of this is extent that although painting is a physical act I have always thought of it as mainly a mental or cerebral pursuit. Being required to question and think about my physical movements, constraining them and then asked to create works within these limitations was enlightening. To experience painting as an action or event rather than just a mode of communication was enjoyable. As was trying to encompass the part played by chance endurance and time. Whether the outcomes were successful or not was not the point. I would like to try to include a sense of my physical presence in my work. Similarly the attempting to employ alternative ways of applying materials in mechanical or non participative ways forced me to address issues that I had not previously explored in any considered manner. These projects and exercises opened up new possibilities which I must try to employ when thinking and engaging in my own practice. That isn’t to say that I will necessarily produce works using these techniques but will let them and the thought processes involved influence how I approach my work.

One of the interesting discoveries I made was when trying to work collaboratively on one of the exercises. I found it difficult to allow others to influence what I considered to be my work. This is in opposition to allowing materials to react to each other to create chance outcomes where I am happy for this to happen. This discovery made me think about my attachment to what influences the outcome of the work and my ownership of the result. In many ways I consider the act of painting to be an individual act, a personal document of myself and my responses to life. In saying this, which is in danger of sounding pretentious, I realise that I have a long way to go in really being able to truly and honestly say that my paintings represent me. The start of this course has given me opportunities to consider and explore more possibilities.

• Part 1