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The Patchmaker began as an exploration of a new character I was thinking about. Not someone in particular, but rather an archetype that might return in different forms in paintings to come.
She arrived in my sketchbook wearing little bells attached to braids with mismatched laces. There was something about her that felt creative, playful and mischievous all at once. Someone who doesn’t take herself entirely seriously. A kind of attitude I want to carry forward as I grow older.
The idea of patches, and what they might carry, had been living in my mind for much longer.
I had been thinking about the act of mending, giving attention to what has been damaged, and how an imperfection, and the repair itself, can become part of a story. But I hadn’t yet found where this idea belonged.
She seemed to have a natural talent for turning things over in her hands and making something of them. The curiosity to experiment, the patience to mend, the willingness to pick up whatever was lying around and see what could be done with it.
She felt like exactly the kind of character who wouldn’t throw something away just because it had been torn. She’d probably reach for a needle and thread instead, sit under a tree and spend the whole afternoon making something with her hands.
Medium: Oil on linen mounted to aluminium panel
Size: 20cm x 25cm (7.9″ x 9.8″)
Framed: 23cm x 28cm (9″ x 10″)