During a visit to the V&A museum in London, I became enamoured with the ironwork section. I must have spent at least an hour in there, oohing and ahhing over the beautiful wrought iron work, taking photos and applying the patterns to paintings in my head. Until now, they have remained in a folder on my laptop’s hard drive.

I thought how fitting it would be to begin with these as inspiration for my first painting as I plunge myself into the fire of a 30 day challenge hoping to rework my skills and create some beautiful artworks.

I went through the hundreds of photos I had, doodling sections of ironwork that I liked.

I’ve been itching to do a monochrome painting for a while. I’m drawn to the discipline of using a palette limited to one colour.

In this painting (below) by artist Nigel Henderson (in 1949) he uses collage, layering pieces together. Many of his works look like aerial photographs. I really enjoy this kind of spontaneous mark-making and seeing a natural structure emerge.

I see open and closed areas, grid-like composition, creating a strong tonal contrast. In terms of technique, there are washes, scratches, printing and texture, a variety of scale used in both shape and mark-making. He’s used a limited amount of black. I’ll certainly use more.

Check back tomorrow to see what I come up with using my ironwork designs and Henderson’s discipline as inspiration.

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I was an art student who became a screenwriter. Twenty years later, I abandon the page and return to the canvas as I attempt to tell stories through pictures.

Day 1 Inspiration 1: An ironwork work.