GAZE Feb. 2014 | Page 12

KEVIN DERBYSHIRE Moon/Sea 2010 - Acrylic, emulsion, varnish on canvas. The moon has featured frequently in my paintings and drawings. It seems to me to be a shining gift to remind us how strange life is. Familiar yet mysterious, absurd yet beautiful, subtly influential, important but taken for granted, benign yet intense, constant yet ever changing. No one painting ever seems enough to portray the moon. This one is quite a kitsch rendering! The glow of the moon was enhanced by the use of gloss varnish. Faces 2012 - Acrylic, Stained glass paint, sparkly paint on canvas. This painting was one of those that sort of ‘painted itself’! I don’t think there was any particular aim on my part at the beginning, other than having the image divided into two distinct areas.Paint was dripped and smeared, with a lot of holding the canvas at various angles to make the it run in different directions. As the painting progressed, it settled into a (sun? moon?) face above and a darker (sea) face below, which I picked up and developed (trying to keep it subtle). I like balance and the sea and faces are always a winner, so I was quite pleased with the result. Jackson Pollack once said: “It doesnt matter how the painting is put on as long as something is said”. I like that statement. My work certainly demonstrates an agreement with the first part of the statement- that doesn’t matter how the paint was put on. As far as the second part is concerned, what’s being said is mostly subconscious. www.kevinderbyshire.co.uk [email protected]