I Fell Into the Ocean and You Became My Wave

oil on canvas | 80 × 100 cm | 2026

"Titles are like my paintings. A place of chance encounters, memory fragments, a snippet from a song, something overheard in a café while I was hiding from the studio."

I Fell Into the Ocean and You Became My Wave

oil on canvas | 80 × 100 cm | 2026

This title came from listening to Tom Waits while painting. I misheard a word and loved where it took me. Titles build up like layers of paint and fly around the paintings as they grow. Like a cloud of words, all these fragments swarm around the work, ready and waiting for me to plug the right title from it once the painting is finished.

This was the first painting where I tried using a draught excluder as a brush. It felt a bit wild, introducing a different surface and mark by dragging it across the colourful layers underneath. Using different objects or materials to paint can change the direction of a painting as much as changing your location. Numerous times with this one I loaded up the brush with different colours and threw the dice again.

There is a freedom in not knowing where a painting is going. You pour yourself into it and trust that something will emerge worth keeping.