I have painted two paintings both called ISOLATION. This blog is about the first one which is a flat painting as opposed to my normal tactile works.
A few years ago, on a dark drizzly evening in London, I walked past a church, it was lit up and the door slightly ajar. To the left of the porch, tucked right into a corner sat a young person. Even though the light from the window light up the figure I could not tell if it was a girl or boy. I walked past and thought about this boy or girl. What on earth had gone wrong in their life that they sit on a blanket, on a cold winters evening and they are alone. I still find it upsetting to think about it.
On the train home I thought about the lonely figure and wondered why the church did not invite the person into the warm building. Perhaps they had and the offer was declined. Perhaps the person had been in the church and been asked to leave, maybe because of drink or drugs. Perhaps no-one had even noticed, outside in the cold was this lonely empty human being, who sat in such bleak isolation.
With the previous evenings image in still in my mind I made a number of pictures of the scene. I played with quite a few sketches, some showing the person begging, some with yellow lines on the road, to represent the fact that no-one could or even wanted to stop and a couple with a figure walking by.
After a few attempts of chose to show the figure without a face, a person walking by, and double yellow lines. The reason for doing a flat painting as opposed to the tactile is that I could finish it so much quicker and I just wanted to get it done.
The painting was sold soon after completion to BBC Radio 4 Presenter John Humphrys. I am proud to say this is the second painting he has purchased from my collection.
The next blog will explain