Early spring in a woodland is a particular kind of miracle. After months of bare branches and cold temperatures, life is stirring. Water threads its way through the trees as streams and brooks, pooling into quiet lakes that hold the sky on their surface. Tiny wildflowers appear at the water’s edge, leaves unfurl in that wonderfully fresh green that lasts only a few weeks, and underwater, new growth catches the light filtering down from above.
Water is the thread running through this collection, as it runs through all my work. The still lake that mirrors young foliage and shifting cloud, and the rushing brook that tumbles over stones, alive with energy. It is the medium through which woodland and spring find each other.
These paintings are an attempt to hold that feeling: the particular optimism of a world waking up, saturated in new colour and extraordinary light.
The paintings are built from gestural brushwork that evokes the movement of water, and palette knife marks that suggest flowers, leaves, branches and twigs, both above the surface and below it. Some works carry a more personal memory: of wild swimming and snorkelling, of looking upward through water at a rippling, light-filled sky. Ultimately, this collection is a celebration of water as a living force, one that nourishes, shapes and transforms the woodland world around it as spring takes hold.
Elemental was exhibited at the Chelsea Gallery, Kings Road, London from the 5th to the 17th of March 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.
