Michael JQuill

Artist Interview

What medium do you work with, and why have you chosen them?

Over the years of my practice I have predominantly worked with a combination of Acrylics & house paints on canvas. As a self taught artist I have always & am continually experimenting with new ideas and with that comes the use and costs of paint & materials. It is for that reason that more than often my colour palette for my paintings will be heavily pursuaded by what tins of paint I found on the side of the road that week or have left over in the studio.

How does your artwork get from initial concept to exhibition stage?

More than often my abstract paintings are extremely intuitive, evolving from an initial mindless marking on the canvas in one colour. It is from these initial strokes that an idea begins to develop, creating a conversation between myself, paint and canvas. My portraiture works are often more structured in there approach as I will roughly sketch out the figure but the overall process is still very much drawing from the abstract, working with my mistakes and seeing where they might lead me. Once I feel the painting is finished I then measure it out, build a custom frame & stretch it ready for hanging in a gallery.

Can you tell us a little more about your creative working environment/studio?

Having taught myself to paint in a small studio on the outskirts of Berlin in 2013. I have since then spent most of my practice since then in & out of a small studio at my family home in Sydney.<br><br> Paint covered floors with walls painted thick with coats of white to cover the years of colour left behind. Hammering sheets of canvas into the wall with nails and a found stone whilst working with brushes that have been kept for 10 years as if they hold onto the story.<br><br> Currently i have just moved back to inner west of Sydney and have set up & working out of a large workshop/ garage studio in Stanmore.