Gail Strong

My main works are of mixed media and feature amorphous 'scapes': land, sea, sky, universe as well as the self-repeating forms of vegetation. Outcomes of the processes, or sometimes the colours used, often suggest their identity.

My part in these seeming accidents is to set up various conditions of chaos with the materials such as interrupted flow, osmosis, vortices and so forth and let them behave according their intrinsic properties. I refer to the results as patterns of chaos and hope they convey that dynamic, usually entitling them 'fluid forms'. The formative considerations of the artist also come into play: areas may be over-layered or new colours introduced, until I think the work has gone as far as it can go. Some works never reach a finished stage and sit questioningly in some far corner of my studio.

These works utilise procedures used by watercolourists for over a century, but in my work they become the object of the piece in place of a representational scene. However, I do see drawing in its widest sense as important, if only in presenting the artist with the tool to convey the objective of their work via whatever medium. Therefore I practise life studies, quite often disciplined towards accuracy, so that when I break to periods of freer interpretation, the work may have credibility. I use pen/brush and ink or acrylic paint for this work.

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