What to do when you can't do.

Or the joy of sight and sound.

Recently, due to what seems to have been a temporary worsening of my essential tremor, my hands were too shaky to draw or paint.

Previously that would have lead to a great deal of frustration but I have managed some personal growth, as they say in the funny papers, and so I focused on other things.

One of the most striking things I've learnt over the last few years is that it's good to study other people's work. Stephen King, along with a whole host of other writers, said “if you want to write, READ”. Learn from other writers. The same is true of art. Look at the works of other artists. Understand what they did and how they did it. Don't be afraid to steal ideas or techniques and apply them to your own style.

So over the past couple of weeks I've read, looked at books of paintings and books on painting, I've watched films and paid close attention to how they frame shots to achieve different emotions and responses and I've listened to music.

For me art is about trying to create an instant that creates a particular response. When I paint birds I'm not trying to achieve a photographic quality but suggest life and the potential for movement and song. When I make comics the intention is to carry the emotion of the story through staging and framing

This painting, The Thames By Night, by Robert McNeil Whistler is close to my ideal in terms of landscape painting. Whistler manages to suggest everything you need know with a series of simple, overlaid shapes. You may not recognise London but you know beyond a doubt that you are looking at a city across a river with a single ship visible. It is, undoubtedly night. He literally makes something from nothing.

I have tried to strengthen my vision of what my art should be during this time. I've tried to put together an artist's statement for my own use to focus my mind.

What is an artist's statement? I'll show you next time.

Pete