Greetings fellow humans! It’s been quite the week out there in the world…sending love to those who need it right now.

In my tiny corner of it, another week whizzes by without much arting, but there was art talk! After a lovely mini-interview and feature on Artist_Parent insta, I stepped, nay, hurled myself out of my comfort zone and in front of an audience of friends and strangers to give a talk about my work at the wonderful Chippenham Museum as part of their Collection Conversations - a fantastic series of events showcasing contemporary artists in the museum collection. Spearheaded by the fantastic Sarah Purvey, the museum started acquiring works by the plethora of talent in the local area (in fact my home town housed Bath Academy of Arts, which boasts staff & alumni such as William Scott, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Howard Hodgkin amongst others) and now they have a permanent art collection on display and a swanky new temporary exhibition gallery too. Well worth a visit.

So, you got up and spoke?

I really did. In front of actual people. And I formed (mostly) coherent sentences, and didn’t have a coughing fit. Success! Alongside Anya Beaumont (my polar opposite in terms of confident public speaking) we each gave a short history of our art and where we’re at now. I won’t share the whole slideshow with you now, but I’d like to focus on one painting, and I’ll talk you through it..

My Magnum Opus

Yeah, blowing my own trumpet here, but ain’t no one else going to! This painting really does epitomise why I do what I do (in terms of painting and art making, that is)

Advance warning- I will get real when I’m talking about my work coming up, and there are some difficult topics here. This painting, whilst not therapy as such, helped me process and be true to myself in my art making. And I think it’s better for it. It’s about grief and loss and acceptance. It’s about fear and protection and sacrifice. It’s about love.

Oblation

This is my biggest egg tempera painting to date at 120 x 90 cm (at least until I finish my current painting which measures a whopping 150 x 90 cm) - quite the feat when you consider my miniscule brushes! It has been a turning point in my painting practice to work with these paints on this scale, embracing the process and the more organic ways of creating the image. So much physical and metaphorical layering in this painting…there was a lot to pack in this bunch of brushstrokes…

So, here she is. Where to begin? This painting originated from lockdown time in 2020, that perfectly surreal time looking back, when in a planet full of loss and isolation and loneliness, I had a miscarriage at 12 weeks, a hospital stay and blood transfusions. Something I can talk freely about now, but took years of self-healing. So, no holds barred with this self portrait. I wanted to own my story, paint my truth. It’s a sad painting, but beautiful. The title refers to a solemn offering, a sacrifice made to the gods. Titles are hugely important to my work, I enjoy the added layers of interpretation.

All the symbolism

Ooh, I love a bit of symbolism in art - the medieval art I love so much was crammed full of it. I paint birds, flowers, hair, insects and fabrics - all imbued with meaning for me. I’d love to devise my own contemporary Codex ‘Carolinus’ one day….

Scissors - it’s not hard to see why they are there - the cutting of the hair has so much symbolism (and I’ve had brilliant discussions with people about their interpretations) - a symbolic act of letting go, transformation. In many cultures covering hair, or cutting hair is hugely significant. Samson lost his strength when his hair was cut. The hair itself is like an umbilical cord. So much to think about…

Goldfinch - this little bird features a lot in Italian renaissance art - (and in this perfect painting by Fabritius) - as a symbol of the resurrection and how the goldfinch’s face was stained red from plucking the thorns from Christ’s head. I also get these beauties on occasion in my garden.

Deaths Head Hawk moth - as you know, I love a moth. Can’t get more foreboding than this little creature.

Red spider lilies - a really extraordinary looking flower, there are many superstitions and legends surrounding these blooms in some East Asian cultures, and they are commonly planted in cemeteries. Much like a poppy, they grow up from the graves of the fallen….(and they look so impressive!)

The world is on fire - then, now and tomorrow. When I was 21, the images of the British countryside with burning pyres of cattle was seared into my mind…

Nature abundant - life goes on - it blossoms and fades, the seasons roll on, we change, transform and grow, like those fleeting moths…

And there she sits…in her own beautiful world, shielded from view, blissfully oblivious, tension in her hands, powerful, long golden hair flowing down her back. She is protected.

And the flowers…flowers from a friend. Flowers for a friend. The flowers we leave to say goodbye. The ghostly flowers fading from view…

There’s so much more I could say, from these two inspirations (here and here), to my use of red on red, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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The Making of…

I filmed some of the process - from the green underlayers to the fine detailing - countless hours went into the making of this, from making the gesso to prepare the board, to hammering the metal flowers to adorn the frame…here’s a six-minute snippet.

I hope this has given you food for thought, and insight into my painting, my method, my raison d’être…I hope to do more painting deep-dives soon.

Thank you as always for staying to the end…speak soon.