Thessaloniki, 2026, oil on canvas, ceramic

Greek residency studio progress

You’ll remember, from my last blog, I’ve been working on paintings-from-collages-from-sketches of photographs I took of broken and repaired ancient Greek steles during my residency earlier this year. I thought I’d share with you some of my progress so far.

I’d fairly quickly into the residency decided to produce some paintings on my return. As they developed though, I felt they were asking me for more context, so in came the ceramic component. Framing possibilities have been on my mind for a while, the material combinations feeling very right to me. The ceramic frame/stand/parts echo the actual steles the work initiates from, while the paintings morph around the cracks and layers of repair of these precious antiquities in fascinating abstract ways.

I was particularly struck by the way the broken pieces had been put together by restoration specialists, with blank fill replacing the unrecovered shards. Each stele appeared to have its own individual, abstracted characteristics, and its own charm.

Work taking on its own life

Now, to how they began, and the progress of one piece taking on its own life (see the images above).

Starting reasonably faithfully from the collages, with each layer the work soon began to dictate its preferred direction. Part of the painting process that is so compelling is the way a work evolves into something you didn’t quite envisage. Elements of chance and letting go surprise and contest on varying levels.

I do like how the work gradually removes itself from its original point of reference while retaining something of its source: from photograph to sketch to collage, and then to painting. Its like a visual version of Chinese whispers.

Feeling my way with ceramic

Some of my ceramic framing experiments (above): keeping the clay pale and natural looking, with finger marks and evidence of the hand. I’m working on ‘fractured’ framing for wall mounting and ceramic stands to hold the paintings (to display on a shelf, for example).

More developments to come

New paintings on the same subject – begun. These ones are on a nicely textured linen.

My Greek residency studio progress continues…