Stephen Howard Harrison

My practice is informed in part by an immersion in the study of the works of successful artists. It comes from a great love of painting that stems from when I was very young.

As one gets older, inevitably one becomes more analytical. I think about the formal aspects of painting. I love many paintings by abstract artists too, and of course I too have experimented in such a field. It is the infinite variety that I find in nature, in landscape for example, that protects me from repeating myself.

My method is to follow my instincts. For example, I become aware of a desire to make a painting based on a particular scene or place, and I hold that thought, and then act upon it. I feel it is important to listen out for that desire within myself, and just get on and do the painting.

A family friend, an artist, once said to me about painting, and perhaps about life itself ‘It is all a great mystery’. I often think of those words. I have no objection to being reasonably articulate about one's practice, and also be reasonably informed about what is going on, and I feel I will not disappoint anyone who seeks to analyse how I think. But a key point, it seems to me, about painting is that it is not words. My practice is about exploring the space that is mysterious.