Birth, Oil on Canvas, 48" x 42" (122 x 107 cm) 2003

Art Words by Christopher Wood

Nothing brings out strong emotions like the imminent arrival of your first child,
as the Scottish abstract artist discovered as he waited for his wife to give birth

This painting is important to me as it was painted just a few days before I became a father for the first time. A purely abstract work, it depends on the power and energy within it to express all the excitement and trepidation I was feeling at the time. My wife had decided on a home birth, and the obvious venue for the ultimate in creative acts was my studio. I cleaned everything away and repainted the floor in readiness. Thereafter, I retreated to a table in the corner of the studio where I worked carefully on small, water-based paintings. Soon however, this expanse of empty space got to me. I covered the floor with polythene and placed a large bare canvas in the middle.With no particular thought as to what I was going to paint, I began carefully enough using acrylics – but, before I knew it, I lost myself in a swirl of oils, meths, turps and enamel house paints. After a few hours, I drew breath, cleaned my brushes and left the studio, hardly stopping to look back. I kept thinking about the painting and, when I returned that evening, I was fascinated by the results. Unfortunately, the reek of all those chemicals was overpowering, so when I mentioned to Jane that there was something quite interesting in the studio that she might like to take a look at, I was met with an undisguised snarl: “Yes, I know – and just how would I give birth in there tonight?”

As it turned out, my son was in no hurry to join us so there was plenty of time for the painting to dry and the fumes to dissipate. He appeared two weeks after he was due – and then in a comfortable maternity bed. He now enjoys the fact that the painting in the sitting-room is his painting.