ANF in Alaska: Slice paintings by Ben Woodhams

Ben Woodhams explains:

I have been doing these  paintings that I call 'slice paintings, for several years now. I was interested in the paradox of observational plein air painting  - things are changing as you paint - and became very interested in different ways of capturing the passage of time.

Some paintings record changes over a year, some a week, some just a few hours. I am interested in how the light, the weather, and the tides, change everything completely.

I start by making a very simple line drawing on the sheet of paper. Then, with tape I make the first section and start painting.  This I then cover completely,  and then start on the next section (after minutes,hours, days), and so on.

Each section is covered as I paint, so I don't get influenced by previous sections. After the last section is completed, I remove all the paper and tape and see whether it worked or not.