Document

This is a space for sharing insights into my process. It’s important to document development; publicly available content is a great way to maintain self-criticism

Neuromantic

As a progenitor piece, untitled_002 [02:28AM] is pure investigation. It’s an exploration of how I want to paint, what I want to paint, and the paint’s relationship with digital as an active component. It’s chaotically indulgent; a cacophony from which the primal sounds of a visual language are starting to take shape. It serves as a jumbled-up toolbox I can reach into and retrieve the best articulation tool for future paintings. To that end, I’m presenting this as part of a formal analysis on direction, as illustrated via the accompanying graphics…

A.Colour | Abstract expressionism gives us colour as emotion. The nature of this moment is quite melancholic, yet I have nothing but positive emotions associated with the subject; the palette had to be exciting, vivacious. Similarly, certain elements needed to evoke the atmosphere of a low-light and intimate environment.

B. Composition | The piece can either be read left to right or vice versa. In reading the image from left to right, the emotions delivered by converging synaptic connections manifest the recalled moment. Coming from the other direction, the memory entropies.

C. Cubism | Making this painting made me realise how connected Cubism was to memory (a subject explored by artists that followed Cubism into Abstraction). We recall the whole of a person, scene, moment from varying vantage points and perspectives; we fill in the gaps, but everything still feels tangible.

D. Digital Hybrid | With the animation, I’m leaning into Quay Brothers territory. The scene speaks to how music— once cherished for its positive emotional connection to a partner— can manifest our inner demons, holding us in an emotional space we can’t move on from once that relationship ends. One of projection’s most captivating aspects is the interplay between light and pigment with the physical painting.

E. Figurative | For insights to recreating the female nude and the male gaze

F. Structures | From my large-scale charcoal / pastel drawings, I developed a visual language that breaks and intersects forms and space. I go between these being representational of the entropy of memory and synaptic pathways that connect moments, scenes, and subjects.

G. Spray Paint | This painting’s base layer began with acrylic marker and spray paint, inspired by a previous pastel drawing. I know acrylic over oil is risky but I prioritise achieving my desired outcome over archival concerns.  The way I see it, my core theme is memory, and over time memories deteriorate, and that feels analogous to what will happen to these paintings over time because of the acrylic over oil.

Intersections

This painting is a reaction to the events the world witnessed unfold in Minneapolis (Saint Paul) during January [2026] as Trump’s Brown Shirts, under the guise of an immigration operation, sowed fear and aggression throughout Minnesota, resulting in an “overwhelming” amount of wrongful arrests and the tragic loss of life.

I had the Stars & Stripes / Police tape concept quite early on but wasn’t sure how to handle the Stars.  This changed when I researched Minnesota and discovered its state flower is the Pink-and-white Lady’s Slipper orchid.  I found a timelapse of the flower unfolding its petals, which almost appeared to be screaming. This captured the defiant spirit of the locals protesting on their streets.  Aligning the moment the flowerhead and petals opened – the scream – with the tape/flag being blown away hopefully conveys that being vocal and standing up for what you believe in will eventually overcome the obstacles before you.

Protest & Process

i wanted this project to be quicker than usual, using acrylic as the main medium.  This included spray paint, roller markers and brushes, but also solvent transfer of magazine photos from a recent TIME article (both onto cardboard and canvas). This was also a master-study, a chance to revisit the work of Robert Rauschenberg.  An American artist known for his activism and a lifelong influence on me.

It was also an exploration of projected colour - as I develop this hybrid traditional and digital approach, I’ve realised how I can manipulate the local colours on the canvas by shifting the projected hues. This allows me to reveal/remove painted elements or simply transform the overall mood of a piece. I’ve been thinking about how you can bypass the projection aspect and use transparent displays, resulting in better definition and colour.

Fish & Bird | Prelim

creating a new visual approach I needed something to base the content of my development piece on; in this situation, it's a good idea to pick an existing work of art, a non-visual piece - a poem, book or song - to provide the emotional content freeing you to focus solely on the visual / making aspects

I chose Fish & Bird by Tom Waits, out of a collection of songs spanning five decades I always felt this song would suit an assemblage-style animation (I started imagining this well over a decade ago)

Seeing as I consider this a sketch - a proof of concept - I didn't commit to retelling the entire song, this is why I truncated the track and why I haven't polished certain edits, loops and other details; I was more concerned with investigating the process, workflows, outcomes and mediums etc to be utilised in my future personal work

Audio is available…

Rachel’s

With its mix of imagined narrative and personal experiences, this primogenitor piece - flaws and all - marks the start of more personal work in tone and subject. It's also the beginning of exploring ways to combine traditional methods into the digital space