David Aitchison

The Artist

Art is an unfolding process in which we try to come to terms with our cosmology, our environment and the life we live.

Rather than the meticulous observation involved in working with a sitter, I prefer to work from memory. ... I have found that memory is a great editor of what is superfluous. Working this way re-establishes how important reactions are to something ... to get back to an initial reaction without being swayed by detail.

To draw is to analyse. It is also a unique way of experiencing and learning about things and training visual memory.

An artist should strive to be independent at all costs, to cherish that feeling of creative freedom in spite of the outcome.