So the summer holidays have finally arrived (for those that don’t know I am a high school and sixth-form art teacher), that means that I now have six weeks to make paintings ready for a solo show that I have coming up in September. I spent yesterday preparing and gessoing canvases, and have spent this morning adding ground colour to paint over.

This current batch of paintings are in a way both a departure and a re-arrival. I am experimenting again with acrylic paint. This was my media of choice throughout my early years is an artist. Across the last few years I have been making work in either watercolour or in oil paint, mostly watercolour.

Following a recent conversation with a gallery owner, I have again decided to embrace acrylic paint as a faster route to express ideas and to create work with a more physical quality. This isn’t to say that I will be turning my back on the challenging nature of watercolour, I continue to be drawn to its purity and brilliance. I have to admit that I am enjoying working with the opacity of acrylic though.

It does mean that I am working in a completely different way, it’s almost like painting in reverse. I am excited to be working in a new way, using old techniques to express my current ideas.