Peter Dillman

For me, a painting starts with an image that flashes and flickers at the edge of my consciousness. The process of painting is to wrestle the image to the forefront of my consciousness, while preserving the integrity of that initial flash. Because my sources of inspiration are such fragile flashes, I do not want to limit myself to a style, or subject, I do not want to force my work into a narrowly defined category, for fear of subverting my creativity. That said, most of my work can be described as landscape-based abstraction.
I make art to express my responses and reactions to the world in which I live. I paint primarily landscape-based abstract paintings because I have a very strong emotional response to my physical surroundings - such that I cannot express in purely representational landscape painting.

I paint in acrylic on board, in many layers. Acrylic allows a layered approach in a compressed time. Acrylic dries quickly and layers can be built upon in a shorter time frame than other mediums. Colour is of prime importance in my work, and is often the first flash of inspiration in a piece.

My work is successful when it recalls that original flash of inspiration (or through the process of creation evolves into a painting I like even more than the inspiring idea). It is important to me that my work convey an element of emotionality to the viewer, and it is very gratifying to hear that I have touched someone with my work.

It is my goal to continue to paint until I am no longer able to hold a brush. I hope that at some point, a few months before then, that I finally feel a sense of mastery of my craft. Until then, I continue to develop.