That was my aim that day, to lose myself in the sound. With a can of paint in one hand, a spoon in the other, and a canvas on the floor I was ready! Ready for an epic battle with a three meter canvas, fifteen cans of Dulux gloss paint, eight spoons, two jugs and a bucket!
The day was a great one, it was my birthday, I was in my studio in Birmingham, I was excited about my new style of art, and life felt good! I had decided that I was going to paint really large scale as a birthday treat to myself, It was an out and out self indulgence. This was going to be my largest canvas to date, only having a few months of painting in this particular style under my belt, I was intrigued to see where this day would take me.
The paint cans were all open, the equipment was ready and my sonic weapon of choice was selected on my trusty old JVC RVB90 boombox, Goldie’s ‘INcredible sound of Drum 'n' Bass’! Lets bring it on I thought!
The music went on, I started mixing a colour, then I got up to see a clean crisp expanse of white canvas before me. Right, I’m ready for this I was thinking, things felt good and I was excited to see what would happen. I just instinctively started throwing loops of oily paint through the air. It just seemed to hang in midair, creating beautiful arks of colour, before landing on the canvas with ease, it had a certain grace about it.
I was now into the warming up stage, but that did not last for long before I settled down into a groove and started to relax into the music. Things started to flow, I remember it just getting mesmerising and hypnotic from then on. I just seemed to become part of the music, it was like when you rehearse a tune on a piano that much you just start enjoying the sound, and not concentrating on your hands. You have total control to go where ever you want with it, it was like that. I was now feeling in real control, I knew where I was going. I did not know the exact destination, and I did not care as I now knew the journey would be a great one.
As the music started building I was firmly in the zone, then all hell broke loose with the music, and consequently my painting! I think it was when ‘Spacefunk' by Digital dropped, I just remember going berserk! It was a total outpouring of primitive expression. I was being swept along with the savagely reconstructed amen break, thudding base, and that trance inducing high pitched monotone echo cutting through the mix. Now, now I was the music, it was leading me, throwing me around with its power, like a ship in a stormy sea. I’m just holding on and riding it out with controlled adrenalin and exhilaration, I was now painting without thought or fear! This is where I had dreamt of being, and it was happening to me for the first time, it was the perfect storm.
