At the end of last year I asked a friend who is a carpenter to make me a wooden chair. I had an idea of design I wanted, as I had seen a beautiful old lambing chair that was made from recycled timber, unified with a coat of paint.

I drew out the chair in pencil on a piece of A4 and with a tape measure I worked out the proportions . As my friend went out the studio door with the design in his pocket he said, “don’t worry I will make it, but I wont fix it , then you can make any changes you don’t like , and I agreed.

Some weeks later a message came to pop in and see the chair, and I nipped over. I had really been looking forward to seeing my drawing transformed into 3D, and finally there it was.

Looking at it from all angles the shape was just as I had hoped . We discussed the parts we liked and those we didn’t, he didn’t like the arms which we changed , and I wanted a drawer under the seat, and so gradually the chair took shape . The heavy recycled oak and pine chair finally arrived complete in my studio just before Christmas .

I had the in the back of my mind that this might be a ‘thinking chair’ , a space in which one feels safe and relaxed. The kind of chair that is rarely empty in any pub or meeting place and that has a good view out of a window. In the meantime, I put it in the corner of the studio to get used to its shape, and to consider how best to paint it…..

It was in the new year that ideas of colours and imagery began to emerge, and I started work. This method of working was all about putting paint on and taking it off or painting over the next day. But, this process did build up rich multiple layers and developed transitory imagery, which I thought could fit the chairs space and form more naturally than applying anything predetermined .

And so here are a few pictures of it in progress and situ. The drawer is a proving to be a useful space, the question is, what should I keep in there… drawing books, gin and tonic or a lamb …. as intended with the traditional chair.