In the past, many visual artists forged partnerships with poets and writers who were able to put into words their aspirations, but I don’t know any poets or writers and I’d rather not rely on AI, so here goes.

While at first glance it may not seem so, there is a common thread running through my work. That of loneliness, perhaps even anxiety dating back to early childhood. To me it’s all about self-expression, about capturing a moment from the past that had a profound impact and which resonates to this day. You might want to describe my art practice as a form of visual journaling. But I don’t go out of my way to paint just emotions - that would never work.

Loneliness can be so difficult to categorize; not all people who live their lives in the absence of others are lonely, while it’s possible to experience acute loneliness in a room full of people. I need to be solitary when contemplating my next arts project, but the need for intimacy (or at least some form of contact) is always lingering in the background and sooner or later it will rise to the surface and demand some attention. And then there is the sense of not belonging in this world, an emotion that many people suffering some form of mental illness would be familiar with.

But there are times when I want to present images of calm and tranquility, hence a series of paintings based on Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens. It’s a location I often have trouble leaving after a day of what might be called meditation. The writer Alain de Botton once said that beauty is the promise of happiness. I can remember visiting the gardens as a small child and experiencing a sense of calm that was very rare back then.

From a very young age, I found myself more interested in the environment I was in rather than the company I was keeping. This may have been the result of shyness, or a desire for escape.

It’s been said that the great writers have the reader inside them, that is “How will my writing fit into someone else’s life?” The same must also apply to visual artists. How might something I’m about to paint fit into the viewer’s experiences? Yet at the same time, artists must not think they can dictate how a viewer will respond to their work. Jeffrey Smart once said, “what gives the artist the right to think that he/she can get into someone else’s head?”

Loneliness has been described as the most shameful of experiences. This might stem from the belief held by some that there is no excuse for it. Loneliness has also been described as a very special place - well, perhaps in moderation. Too much of our own company can have consequences for our health and mental wellbeing. As I discovered some years ago.

It has also been described as the most incommunicable emotion for the sufferer. There seems a reluctance on the part of the sufferer to discuss it, possibly due to the anxiety that is aroused by trying to do so. But it’s important to find an outlet to express these emotions and I’m grateful to have found it in my art practice.

Visual Journaling