1) – How do you come up with the titles for your paintings?
Apart from portraits when i tend to simply use the name of the model, I try to choose titles that are fairly ambiguous and open to different interpretations. I want them to add mystery and leave the viewer guessing what’s taking place in the picture. I try to make paintings that are beautiful but with a touch of tension or the possibility of menace about them. It’s like seasoning a dish. You want to get just the right balance. A slightly jarring title on an otherwise innocent seeming picture, or an innocuous title on a painting that at first glass seems a little shocking can help to achieve this. It’s always a challenging part of the process.
2) – How did you get into painting?
My Great Grandfather was a well known painter, Sir William Russell Flint. He died before i was born but remained a great presence within the family and i grew up with his pictures on the walls of our and other family members’ houses. That made art a real possibility, and set a standard to strive for. Much of his work focused on women in beautifully dilapidated old buildings in France and Spain – a sensibility i seem to have inherited.
3) – We feel like there’s a perfect connection between art and beauty. Do you agree?
I guess that depends on the art! And what you find beautiful. But yes, I’d probably agree with that.
4) – What does beauty mean to you?
Timelessness, elegance, simplicity.
5) -As we head into another lockdown, what will you be focusing your time on?
Living in the middle of the remote French countryside, I feel like I’ve been quarantining for the past decade! Maybe because of this, many of my paintings over the years seem to be imbued with a sense of isolation and wistfulness – themes strangely poignant in this weird Covid era. I’ll be continuing to paint as I have been doing, and getting some new work ready to share soon…