Concepts can come from any avenue. For me influences can range from literature, music, and conversation, to something as arbitrary as walking down the street first thing in the morning. How do I develop my ideas?

 

A typical example of how I would approach the practical process on, say a standard canvas, would be after establishing the core composition - whether it be a freehand drawing, photograph, or press snippet - I would then map said imagery out directly on the canvas. In most cases I would deliberately bend, swerve and distort the composition at this point, to establish the overall feel of the piece I want to generate.

 

Then I begin the actual painting process, always starting with the skyline as the anchor for the composition. When I feel satisfied that I have generated the atmosphere I want to convey in that area of the frame ( and when it is suitably dry), I then tape off that facet of the work, and begin to oil paint, and hand blend collage into the street scenes.

 

A common assumption from audiences is that I use silkscreen printing in some of these areas. I do not. It is all paint and collage, by hand. The final process is to remove the sealed, taped off area, to reveal the skyline again. The fresh clean lines of that element act as a deliberate, stark counterpoint to the deeper, distorted grit that the collage and oil infuses into the street scene. Memories and everyday life experiences do indeed regularly throw fuel on the creative fire. The question reminds me, fondly, of when I was completing 10 pieces for a novel. I had worked hard on this project. In a cold studio in my hometown of Kerrykeel in Ireland I was finishing the last piece. It was the cover piece, of a crazed bomber who had been terrorising a city, walking away from an exploding building.

 

A dark, faustian figure, in a trilby hat, clutching a hankerchief to his face. That night I had finally finished the final piece, and did what every self-respecting artist should do - I went to the pub. Sitting over an ice cold beer however, I was still irked. I could not find a proper title for the piece. The project wasn't finished. Well, not until Mc Devitt the bartender spotted me (in my raggedy, paint splattered overalls) and declared "Look at you McGinley, all rags and ruin! " ....... and Eureka ... There was the title for the front cover piece. The project was finished.