"The Art of Memory: Blending Abstraction, Realism, and Emotion in Painting"

Painting is an intensely physical activity. Canvases are first primed with rabbit skin glue, a traditional method used during the Renaissance to treat canvas or raw Belgian linen—my material of choice. Onto this surface, I apply oils, building up layers that interact visually in unique and surprising ways. Painting, dripping, and pouring onto the stretched canvases—sometimes laying them flat on the ground, then putting them upright, and back down again—allows me to work with the materials to pull out an image that encapsulates the emotive sensation I wish to convey, whether it be landscape or still-life.

Emotional depth, individuality, and a somewhat introspective tone are threads that run through my work. Beauty is of great importance, as I continually strive to hone my skill and expand my mark-making vocabulary. I still use a limited palette, the Zorn palette. In a much earlier post, I wrote about the Zorn palette, developed by the renowned Swedish artist Anders Zorn (1860–1920). Like Zorn, I have a deep admiration for Impressionism. Zorn used soft edges to suggest movement, creating a sense of impermanence and fluidity. The way a few simple marks, placed correctly with the right value, can take on a realistic appearance continues to amaze me.

Many years ago, I mostly painted in an abstract style. As I get older, I’m becoming more aware of a desire to merge abstraction with a hint of the real. This is not a planned idea but rather an emerging feeling within me. My work has always explored the themes of ‘memory’ and ‘place.’ I find that the fading of edges, the blurring, and a sense of dissolution (more about this in a future post) can serve as a bridge between the past and present—much like how memories fade and distort over time, creating an atmosphere of nostalgia or dreaminess.

This approach aligns with the Romantic ideal that memory is not just a historical record but deeply tied to emotions and imagination. By using techniques like blurring and fading forms, artists express the fluid, selective, and emotional nature of memory, bridging Romantic ideals with modernist experimentation.