An entity who is misunderstood seeks explanation from one who appreciates complexity - who detects nuance before difference - and perceives every persona as a constituent of that whole possibility which is to be understood. Those distant villagers are near the vanishing point of such intuition.

A 2016 trip to Brazil has been inspiring ever since because that one visit added several imprints to my visual library. It seems the subconscious recordings began at my window seat on final approach to the airport when the cityscape of Sao Paolo came into view - expansive and packed as it is - a gridwork of streets and buildings everywhere....

Fascination is one driver of a painting's eventual success especially when triggered visually. For example a visit to the factory, processing plant or power generation site. There a young mind is fascinated by complexity of form and function, amazed by the working parts, all of which combine years later as a painting from visual memory.

Unlike a sketch, doodles are drawings of nothing in particular for practice or as some call it "muscle memory". Doodling helps with drawing smooth curves, setting up the relative size and placement of objects, locating items within the frame and so on. Doodles also help decisions about thickness of lines or placement of parts like eyes and fins for...

Being someone with a weak memory for the names of colours makes me reliant on home-made visual references like this one. It's a composite of hues noticed during evening walks as the light shifts towards a sunset. This sketch is one example of a 'pochade' to be referenced later.