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Frequently Asked Questions
How Are Etchings Made?
Are The Canvas Limited Editions Hand Embellished?
Yes. Every limited edition Canvas has been hand ebellished by Simon or his artisans.
Are The Canvas Giclees High Quality?
Can You Hang Simon's Work Unframed?
Absolutely! Simon's work looks great unframed. We would suggest the "Gallery Wrap" option. This only applies to Canvas originals and limited editions.
What is a "Gallery Wrap"?
Gallery wrap is where the image is made "Too big" for the canvas. When it is stretched onto the stretcher bar the color is wrapped around the sides. This enables you to hang the image unframed and have color on the edges (as opposed to white canvas). If this feature is not available, the edges will actually be hand painted by Simon or another artisan.
Questions for Simon:
Why are you so prolific? Is painting like breathing to you?
The answer to these two questions follows on from the last statement I was making about the river. Is painting like breathing to me? - Well, yes and no, I'm not quite sure what you mean by that, but basically I can paint and I can draw. I mastered the skills - that doesn't present a problem. The problem is - what am I painting about? What am I saying through the painting? I suppose that's where the breathing thing comes in, because breathing is something that you do automatically, 24 hours a day - whether you think about it or not - unless you happen to be jogging or something and you realize how out of breath you are, but there's no way painting can be like breathing in some ways - painting is like holding a conversation, it's like meditation - it can be a very physical thing too - with my larger paintings it's like climbing into them. I would say that for me, painting is - to use the river analogy again - it's like the river outpouring. It's like the brush held in my hand becomes an extension of something within and is a pouring out, it's like I become a vessel, like a jug of some sort pouring something out onto the canvas and the more I do it, the more I find inside to pour out.
In answer to the next question, of I am why so prolific, I suppose a sense of urgency is why. A few years back, it was like there were so many images bouncing around in my head I felt, oh my goodness, I just have to get these images out - I just have to do it - and the more I unpack them the more I find down there. It's very strange but it's a very beautiful thing to have , I suppose, that 'reservoir', and let it flow.
How does your work affect people and their lives and why?
You should really ask "the people" that one, but . . . going back to the question of what I am really giving, I would also say that one of the reasons why I think I have been successful, apart from the long years of training - (I was at art college for four years and then really trained myself for many years and was at school learning through a disciplined regime for three years before that). Despite the years of apprenticeship, I would say now that I was able to communicate my feelings through my work and I feel that I am honest in my painting. What I feel and what I think is all out there on the canvas, and although that makes me vulnerable in some ways, I think that anybody who is really creative is really wanting to give of themselves. When I used to teach at Leeds University one day a week, I found that one of the biggest problems art students have is being honest about their feelings in their work. They thought that they had to do work to please the teachers, or get marks and they felt that what they wanted to do was not really important, or would not be respected, or they would be rejected if they put out on the canvas what they wanted to do.
I think we always run the risk of rejection, there's no doubt about it, that critics or people won't like you, or your work won't be accepted or it won't sell. These are all anxieties that obviously play in the background, but you have to rise above that and you have to bring something from the inside and put it on the surface and unless you can do that you haven't really started.
What really drives you?
I like to think that I'm led and not driven. You know, you're talking about a leading, a voice calling you out to discover and express, a whisper here, a beckoning there, to a sense of adventure. I feel I want to make something very beautiful, I want to create a very powerful emotional experience for people. When people see my work, I want them to be affected. I like the big experience; I like the crescendo at the end of the movie when everyone gets the Kleenex out. There are moments like that when everything comes together and I love to talk about big life experiences
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