Doug Eaton

"I think I've always been interested in what paint does and hopefully have applied it in as many different ways as my imagination will allow. I have always been aware of a "painterly look" over and above a clinical rendition of anything. I don't mind the odd dribble here or there if only to remind the onlooker that it is paint at the end of the day.

Logically, I should therefore be entirely abstract, but instead I lean towards landscape type themes to hang paint on. Although I've done my fair share of traditional looking paintings I am currently trying to be more fundamental in my approach to try and produce a strong result from lines, shapes and colours which combined in some way evoke a landscape, usually based on the Forest of Dean, which I find to be quite a particular landscape.

I tend to be interested in extremes, soft against hard edge, dark against light, hot against cold etc. and try to marry them together. I try to use a minimum of information for the onlooker to suggest the subject - hopefully, then the seemingly random paint begins to make sense, or alternatively, but with equal importance, the seemingly "random" paint will remain as paint and be enjoyed for itself."