In the Company of Trees, 2023

"In the Company of Trees" was inspired by a lovely forest near my studio in the Peak District where sunlight filters through the trees creating shadows over the forest floor. The abstract marks suggest dappled light and tones of copper, gold and turquoise create vibrancy. Summer is such a beautiful time of year, and the woods are full of fresh new leaves and forest flowers.

An original artwork, one-of-a-kind, this painting has been created with high-quality acrylic paints on deep-edged canvas. I begin with observation of the place, making notes and taking photographs to work from in the studio. From these beginnings I work intuitively, painting some base layers with a brush and then applying impasto techniques, layer on layer, with a palette knife. I harness optical mixing techniques employed by the Impressionists and continue working until the painting reaches a natural conclusion, resulting in a contemporary painting which lies between abstraction and realism. For shipping overseas, the painting will need to be taken off the stretcher and rolled into a tube. On receiving the painting, it will need to be restretched onto a wooden frame.