In the beginning....

In an attempt to really reflect on my creative practice I decided (with trepidation) to go back to the beginning and dig out some of my A level sketchbooks to remind myself of the kind of artist I used to be (approximately 13 years ago!) Below are a few images from one of my sketchbooks relating to a project on decaying buildings. I can distinctly remember taking the initial photos, mainly around Salford and Manchester's Northern Quarter but also while in Venice. Most of my work at the time responded to architecture and tended to remain within a colour palette of sepia, terracotta, inky blue, emerald and black. My work was very much about surface texture and layering and I recall using oils a lot, something I haven't done for a really long time.