In my work I find that I tend to respond to subjects that I find in my immediate environment. These are subjects I can come to every day, even if it is just to look and think. Local landscapes, shadows cast against a wall, or flowers in a vase against a studio wall. Here is a subject I can study at night, perhaps when the noise and distractions of the day can be left behind, and a subject that can be considered repeatedly. Through my use of the paint I have try to put down that which strikes me as about the subject, such as the fall of light and shadow, an arrangement of objects, or a resonant colour note. In painting I tend to proceed from a more straightforward depiction of the subject, to one where I have aim for a development of elements such as structure, shape, tone and colour in such a way as to reward continued contemplation. In this I wish to follow in the footsteps of artists who have worked from their own immediate environments and in doing so have created lasting images that I believe can enrich our experience of the everyday.

Ross Skinner