“Drawing is a skill. It has an essence, a quality. Every one of us has talent and it doesn’t have to be talent. And there are things I can do if I put in the hours. But it’s so easy to forget that the main thing is skill.”
The way he puts it is, drawing involves a lot of thought, practice and concentration. The ability to draw has many advantages. Many artists use it to get their ideas across. Not everyone’s a great draughtsman. But, if you’re able to master an intricate draught and you’re able to combine the different things you draw, like with the flowers and the architecture, that’s important. And the ability to draw can give you a more vivid idea of what you’re trying to express. For me, I think the real value of a draughtsman and a painter is the ability to convey the feelings and the emotion of an image. That’s what gives meaning to something and it’s exactly what I do as a painter and draughtsman.
Do you find you have a stronger sense of a painting than any other artist?
I definitely try my best to find a balance between the emotions of drawing and the feelings of painting. I try and paint a picture that I find will get people to feel emotionally connected to that scene. In a painting, the emotion of the scene affects one’s view of that subject but so do the words used when the piece is finished. So your emotions are always influencing the message of a painting. When I paint my painting, I feel it and I feel myself expressing something and I feel that I have brought that message to life.
Do you have a strong appreciation for the past?
When I see something I feel something. When I see my art on the wall at home I feel something. At this point in my life, it is more of a memory than an appreciation. When something has given me so much pleasure at my birth, it’s a reminder of things that I’ve had that I’ll probably enjoy for the rest of my life.
“The pain of pain was always with me. To think of pain as this other thing is hard. You have to be able to forgive pain.”
Do you feel like your work is important to society today?
I’ve been lucky enough to see so much good in the arts that even today I often find myself drawn to it. But it has been my experience that I