This is a series of ink drawings created on the metro and train while commuting to work between 2005 and 2007. These are small drawings, A5 and A4 format. I have also produced larger pieces in the studio based on these images and style. Artists often need to work at other jobs to guarantee a regular income to support their families and basic everyday living costs. Teaching was my job choice. This is a wonderful experience but it can also drain some of the physical and creative energy from me. Theses drawings began when I did not have time to paint after returning to my teaching position in 2005. I was on a sabbatical for a year and painted daily but the abrupt stop to creating because of my 5 day a week teaching position, seriously affected me psychologically and I could not paint. It was after visiting a neighbour in hospital, who was dying of cancer, that I decided to draw her face in a small sketchpad on the train and metro on my way home. The vibrations added something interesting and exciting to the composition. I also realised that the time I was spending commuting back and forth to my day job was the perfect time to draw and create. The Metro, RER and commuting trains became my studio space. The images just kept pouring out of me every day. I developed a style, which I then adapted to larger formats created in my studio. I then produced paintings on larger formats and could create compositions that were directly influenced by the vibrations of the trains.
Drawings
Paintings, brush and ink, woodcuts and stencils from 2015
The series of work below is the continuation of the vibration series begun between 2005 and 2007. I am now working purely from imagination using bamboo brushes, designing and creating shapes applying Indian ink, coloured and gold pigments mixed with acrylic/wax mediums and water. Some images may be influenced by calligraphy but my intention is purely formal. There is a strong connection with organic forms found in nature. I have always admired artists such as Miro, Kadinsky, Renne Mackintosh, Art Nouveau as well as from the coloured patterns and designs of the West African fabriques I painted in my earlier works.
