Finished the book’ Man in a Blue Scarf’. What a fantastic read and a real insight into Lucian Freuds world. Felt inspired to do a painting afterwards and started and finished one in the same evening. I find working in oils, and wet on wet….gives me the ability to paint in a much more free and expressive way, and also quite fast. It is the only painting I have done so far that I am actually happy with and I can see that it is far looser than enything I have painted before. I am sure that from reading the book where the sitter explains how Freud thinks about the strokes of colour he applies and puts them on with great thought, that this has made a lasting impression on me and has made me consider ‘mark making’ in painting. I believe gestural marks give a painting energy and a life-force, and I am excited about the possibilities this gives me in my own paintings, and am pleased that I have at last done a painting that I like.
