Colin Slater

Based in East Northamptonshire, the subject of Colin’s painting is the experience of walking the landscape beneath an open sky and responding to its ever-changing moods, scents, sounds, temperature and colour.

As a foot traveller reactions are recorded as an emotional sensation, scribbling copious notations and images on the spot before the motif. In the studio the moment is relived and explored anew, the accumulation of notebook drawings and writings recalling a place as can a scent or a piece of music. Unhindered by the view, the abstract manipulation of paint becomes priority, the sense of place developing into a more spiritual association than a physical one. The prime concern being how it felt, rather than how it looked.

Nevertheless, topographical information is important and so is the place that inspired the composition, but there is a human condition inherent too. It is as much a reflection of himself and of his place in the world, as it is about the place itself.

Another side to his working output he refers to as ‘A Bigger Picture’. Opportunities to satisfy this passion have been rare but recently it has become a more regular activity.

It was discovering illustrations of Cave Painting in books while at school that first triggered this interest, which was then pursued in earnest during his time at Art School, and he has been intrigued by the subject of wall painting ever since. Over the last few years he has received invitations to paint on a monumental scale on several occasions.

A painting specifically designed for a particular location which cannot easily be removed he considers the most personal and valuable one can produce. Those who live with it, having witnessed its creation from start to finish, naturally adopt it, feeling it has been personally painted for them. And this of course is true – it can never be owned by anyone else.