In 2021 I made a photobook titled ‘Gently Out of Time’ and had just one copy printed. It contained over fifty pairs of photographs selected from the 17000 stored on my laptop and phone. Each pair of photographs were chosen because, for one reason or another, they felt like they belonged together, despite being taken at different times and in different places. It was a good effort, but it wasn’t right.
In 2022 I edited the book and reordered the images. The new sequence was better, but I didn’t send it to print. Instead, I started to make paintings of each image. As I did, I realised that not only did I reconnect with the time and place where each photograpgh was taken, I also discovered what it might have been that compelled me to stop and take the photographs in the first place.
To date, working on and off the project, I’ve painted thirty of the photographs, twelve of which are in pairs as shown below. Most have been exhibited, either at the Bankside Gallery, The Mall Galleries or Linden Hall Studio. I’m not sure how many more I’ll paint, or whether I’ll end up painting them all, but I thought it was a good time to create a post about my progress. So here they are, so far.
