Winter Term 2021 Work
Spring Term 2022 Work
Jack's Travels
This painting is about my journey through life. I have put some thought into this piece and have been working on it for the last two weeks. I have used a high gloss frame as it seems a lot of galleries in New York prefer this and it will come over to this country soon. The piece started with two raised plaster of paris shapes that looked like a arrow, there is a broken compass with the white part in the female form and the small bronze box with rope around it represents anytime at sea, same as the 98 gold circles above it which represent the country’s I have played in. The top right three little tadpole things represent my three sons and the one under the shape of a musical note is for my granddaughter, as she has just started piano lessons. The lock picking set is for my time working as a private investigator, the letters at the bottom are plimsol markings on a ship. The paint brush with one hair left represents how much I paint, it’s all I do; the two circles on the left are the sights of a gun; the whole composition is if you stand back and look, it is in the shape of the constellation of Orion. This is my go-to star.
I left the glass out of the frame as I wanted the gap to write in some text, I want the viewer to see but most won’t be seen. In this piece is/ are the words from ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ poem by William Wordsworth, ‘Invictus’ poem by William Ernest Henley and ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ Poem by Lewis Carroll. However, you will not be able to see this as I have just written random stuff. I use text in everything as for a while I had psychosis and saw writing everywhere, to the point it nearly cost me my life. But things are ok now, the random marks you won’t understand as they are rune markings, the cap and sash mean a lot to me, I understand what they symbolise and that is what matters.
The red is Lancaster BA. I always put a crucifix and Lord’s prayer as I believe in God. I don’t know what form that manifests, I just have always felt it. The letters K and E are for my tutors Nick and Tracey and in the J at the bottom. The glass is for a period I could not look at myself when I lost weight and I smashed all the mirrors at home. There is more going on in this painting and I will leave you to find the rest yourself. This is the last time I will ever explain my work.
I didn’t varnish this piece as I wanted to show contrast between the gloss and matte. The three gold dots are the dog stars on Orion’s belt, the hand holding a cigarette is what humans are doing to the world, and the one above ART WITHOUT THOUGHT is because I prefer not to think. The baton at the bottom represents a time as a kid I saw the Hale orchestra and it moved me, and last of all, the bottom right has a little guy having a cigarette and he’s thinking “It’s been emotional”. I try and put in pieces as I spent a long time hating the world, I put an X in as I am a very lucky man still to be in this world, it is my way of kissing the world. I put a cigarette out on my old motto ‘Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum’, as I no longer feel prepared to fight. The zombie type thing in the bottom right represents me as all I ever did was travel and sleep around a lot. At the bottom are forty masts representing the ships I have served. You will see a HW on the left, it stands for hard work because without it, as they used to say when I lived in Alabama, you would be screwed.
If you cannot figure things out, I suggest you teach science or maths. Go deeper, don’t look where I am leading, look where I am not. The bubble at the top represents drowning in Norway. I felt peace, then the noise of a life jacket being lifted, accepting death and then AIR.
I left the glass out of the frame as I wanted the gap to write in some text, I want the viewer to see but most won’t be seen. In this piece is/ are the words from ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ poem by William Wordsworth, ‘Invictus’ poem by William Ernest Henley and ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ Poem by Lewis Carroll. However, you will not be able to see this as I have just written random stuff. I use text in everything as for a while I had psychosis and saw writing everywhere, to the point it nearly cost me my life. But things are ok now, the random marks you won’t understand as they are rune markings, the cap and sash mean a lot to me, I understand what they symbolise and that is what matters.
The red is Lancaster BA. I always put a crucifix and Lord’s prayer as I believe in God. I don’t know what form that manifests, I just have always felt it. The letters K and E are for my tutors Nick and Tracey and in the J at the bottom. The glass is for a period I could not look at myself when I lost weight and I smashed all the mirrors at home. There is more going on in this painting and I will leave you to find the rest yourself. This is the last time I will ever explain my work.
I didn’t varnish this piece as I wanted to show contrast between the gloss and matte. The three gold dots are the dog stars on Orion’s belt, the hand holding a cigarette is what humans are doing to the world, and the one above ART WITHOUT THOUGHT is because I prefer not to think. The baton at the bottom represents a time as a kid I saw the Hale orchestra and it moved me, and last of all, the bottom right has a little guy having a cigarette and he’s thinking “It’s been emotional”. I try and put in pieces as I spent a long time hating the world, I put an X in as I am a very lucky man still to be in this world, it is my way of kissing the world. I put a cigarette out on my old motto ‘Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum’, as I no longer feel prepared to fight. The zombie type thing in the bottom right represents me as all I ever did was travel and sleep around a lot. At the bottom are forty masts representing the ships I have served. You will see a HW on the left, it stands for hard work because without it, as they used to say when I lived in Alabama, you would be screwed.
If you cannot figure things out, I suggest you teach science or maths. Go deeper, don’t look where I am leading, look where I am not. The bubble at the top represents drowning in Norway. I felt peace, then the noise of a life jacket being lifted, accepting death and then AIR.
Vodoo Magic
The Cave
Large Studio Pieces
Protest Art
Collaboration Piece with Fran Disley
Exhibition for Left Coast
Photo credit: Claire Griffiths