ART by Jude Tulloch

My process for painting abstract works

Some abstract artworks, like the on above come straight out of my head.

Other works begin life with a visual prompt, often sparked by of a photo I’ve taken.

When I use a visual prompt, the final work takes on a completely new life, that bears no resemblance to the prompt. (The painting above originated in a photo I took while going through a carwash.)

This method fascinates me. I let go of any preconceived ideas, then wait. Eventually as I push paint around something emerges from the painting itself. This is always a big experiment with an unknowable outcome. Some meaningful set of objects becomes ‘no’ thing (an abstract work) or they re-configure as a new set of objects (a figurative work). Always there is the tension and play as something transforms into nothing and vice versa.

Here’s a painting that lies halfway between abstraction and realism. Originally a purely abstract painting, it morphed into a study of reflections in the water of a red dress,