Artist's Statement & CV

Artist’s statement – September 2021

My paintings mostly describe landscape images that I have observed. For some who find this subject interesting, they might anticipate wide-open views of countryside featuring fields, meadows and hills.  This is the traditional understanding of the subject, but alternative views could also be considered such as arrangements of neighbourhood buildings, local streets, or even the interiors of rooms all of which give the term ‘landscape’ a wider scope for interpretation. All this wealth of subject matter is the object of Clive’s artwork as he uses three words to guide his thoughts when he considers making a landscape painting, these are – ‘Place, Pattern & Presence’.

Firstly – Place, which he selects as the subject of a painting and is often where Clive has visited and has impressed him, and is the reason for wanting to share that experience.

Second – Pattern is a term that may seem unusual regarding landscape, but it can be used to assess a series of forms, boundaries, & textures that are visually interesting and will carry through to be the framework of a painting.

Last – Presence, this is the ‘life’ of a painting which gives the viewer a shared experience of what a picture is trying to express.

With these guiding principles in mind, Clive uses them as a starting point of a picture, to which he often incorporates a visual journey of abstract thoughts that may summarise a particular experience within the subject. If these occur in a picture they may appear obscure at first glance, but with deeper investigation reveal links to the observed location. Clive uses underlying core colours to set the basic tone of paintings, often using contrasting colours to emphasise form and pattern providing vibrancy and balance within the composition. Most of his paintings are a square shape rather than a landscape format, this is to encourage the viewer to ponder what may lie outside the boundaries of this restricted form.

Acrylic and oil paint are Clive’s chosen mediums with the additional use of pastel crayon, graphite pencil, and charcoal when he wants to emphasise structure. Most of his work is on prepared plyboard as this supports heavy mark-making and thick impasto and provides a firm base ideal for scraping back or revealing underpainting.

Painters that have influenced Clive’s work are mostly from the pre-and post-war Cornish School such as Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, Ben Nicholson, and Victor Passmore. More recently he admires the work of Barbara Rae and American artists, Wolf Khan and Brian Rutenberg.

Examples of his work can be found on Instagram – @clivepatterson Facebook clive@clivepatterson.com Web: www.clivepatterson.com