I chose Ben Nicholson’s Two Forms because of the feeling of three-dimensional space that he created from simple abstract forms and to also discover why and how Mondrian influenced him. I became aware of how the L-shapes in this composition started to create the Illusion of the third dimension. I started by making a series of colour studies in acrylic on paper keeping a similar format to the original with the aim of making the images more three-dimensional. The colour was taken from two abstracted images I painted in Crete. I was originally going to have only one image, but felt that I could explore the concept of two forms further by reworking as a triptych.

From this I made three reliefs, where I extracted the rectangles that I found in Ben Nicholson’s image and built them up in layers of birch plywood. When I started painting on the two primed reliefs I used acrylic paint for the first layer and oil for the subsequent layers. These two outside images of the triptych were developed from the acrylic colour studies where I experimented by layering opaque and translucent colours on top of each other allowing the underneath colour to come through in places. The right hand image is a mirror of the left. I started by making the edges neat and kept the layering consistent in each rectangle. I then develop these further by breaking the edges and when layering and changing the consistency of the paint.  This was more in keeping with my own painting practice and the artists I admire such as Rothko, Hoyland and Irwin as well as the later Nicholson paintings and reliefs. I started initially by layering with complimentary colours and allowing other colour possibilities to evolve. It is interesting to see how the shadows change the colour in different lights.

The central panel was made of steel which was one form balancing the two outside images.  When etching the steel in copper sulphate using grease as a resist, polishing the steel and seeing the steel rust I saw the potential for juxtaposing these separate but similar processes as a relief. I made the steel relief by attaching the relevant pieces steel to plywood and then building up the relief in a similar way to the painted reliefs. This process inspired me to do a series of smaller steel reliefs.

Reflecting on the finished triptych and having seen the reliefs purely in wood, I decided to make a fourth relief entirely out of the wood which will be separately exhibited. After assembling the wood I decided to apply lime wax to this, which made the wood lighter, this also helped to enhance the grain of the wood. Exhibited in the correct light the shadows of the rectangles helped to exaggerate the three-dimensional quality in a very interesting way.

I have always been interested in pure abstract art although I mainly work and abstract from nature. Through doing this project I have discovered how different processes can change and alter the character and concept of the abstract image.  My recent interest in icon painting and developing organic abstraction using pieces of wood, mirrors the similarity of building up in layers which is helping me develop new ideas and methods of working. This project has been invaluable for my development as an artist.