Jeff Ferst

For me every new work starts with a fresh white canvas. These days I no longer stretch my own canvas on stretcher frames but rather buy it already stretched and primer with a surface covered in gesto. I am particular in that I prever to work on gallery edged canvas - one that is on a wider stretcher bar and has been stapled behind and NOT on the edge. 

While I do like to pencil in my design roughly for paintings of still life and landscapes, usually abstract paintings are created with no  preconceived idea. I come to the canvas open to all possibilities. Through the course of creating the work I have a dialogue with the canvas which tells me the colours to use and the chapes to créate as the painting progreses. A cohesiva flowiníg painting is the result.

With me textile art I too start with no preconceived design. I set the warp on my tejido de bastidor using cotton twine. I then créate a few rows of work top and bottom to solidify the harp in place. What then follows is selection of yarns - both thickness and colour and the image starts to appear - row by row, colour and shape by colour and shape. 

It is as if I am tapping into some external energy and creative source but in reality subconsciously I am in control, creating the design, the image and working through it as the work progreses. 

For work that I pencil in an image/a design, I too have a conversation with the canvas to select the colours that will be used and how the parkings and pastel layers will be applied over the layers of oil paint. 

Thanks for listening andvisiting my site. 

Jeff