2019, mixed media on panel, 915 x 915mm, 361⁄8 x 361⁄8in
IHNBHB (I Have Never Been Here Before) was made on a leftover piece of MDF plywood that I salvaged while working as preparator. There is a lot of waste generally in the current world I live in, especially in the realm of art. I don't exclusively work like this but I love working on leftover or discarded non-precious materials.
IHNBHB developed in my periphery while I worked on other paintings and projects, using it for a period of time as a working surface. I used what is now the back as a cutting board for making slip cases and and card boxes. I used the front as a surface to make gouache paintings on paper. I also used it as a stable surface to turn my bed into a table where I could put my coffee, paint and glue containers while focusing on other paintings.
This painting came to be through utilizing accidents and indirect mark making techniques. I like to think of it as growing into itself more than being directly created. While I tend to utilize some marks made in the periphery in most of my paintings (the grow over create concept), IHNBHB contains almost only these kinds of marks.
Like many of my paintings, I see landscape when I look at IHNBHB.
