Just trying to make something beautiful - it doesn't have to be logical
What Drives and Inspires my Work
I have been interested in and produced art for as long as I can remember, but finding out my original name and meeting my birth mother later in life has had a profound effect on me and the art I produce. This magical experience galvanised me and brought everything sharply into focus. I began to take my work as an artist more seriously and started using my pre-adoption name – Gerald Mahood – as my artistic name. My pictures celebrate love, nature, life, rebirth, reconciliation, gratitude and above all, joy!!!
Themes and Concepts
Nature and rhythm are intrinsically linked in my work and music is an integral part of this process. Actually, it’s not important whether it’s an exterior, an interior or an interior state. I often like to show things happening in a picture which would be impossible in ‘real life’. For instance, you might be scanning across a landscape through a window, but you’re still looking downwards to see it as a bird would: from above. Also, it’s what’s going on beneath the soil as well: rhythms travelling underground – signals being sent – fresh growth pushing upwards. Ultimately, I’m just trying to make something beautiful!
Artistic Style or Technique
I start with a hopeful blob of paint on a canvas – then I’m sailing off into the unknown. I watch the brush in my hand guided by the music I’m listening to. I sink into the process and have no idea what will emerge. I have just been out walking and found nature fizzing with glowing energy all around me. The colours, contrasts and feelings I get from the natural world and the rhythm and melody in my ears all feed into the work. I don’t try to control the flow of whatever emerges – I’ve learned to embrace the process!
Artistic Background and Training
I’ve always painted and made pictures – even when I was a little kid. Things I saw – things I imagined, shapes, colours, lines, textures etc. Always listening to the radio… Then, while raising a young family, I had the unexpected opportunity to go to Shelley Park school of art, in Bournemouth, England, which I loved. We were taught life drawing, photography, ceramics, colour theory, composition and perspective, and given a good introduction to art history. I went on to attend Falmouth University, as a mature student, where I gained a degree in fine art, but I have only recently blossomed into a full time painter.