Breathe

I’ve called this collection Breathe because it’s about noticing simplicity and letting whatever that is become my focus. 

These works are an eclectic group of paintings completed whilst taking in my local surroundings, recording what I was drawn to take photos of or recording in a sketch book. I found that instead of looking up I was busy looking down – at surfaces under my feet or at below eye level. I noticed reflections on wet pavements, textures within man-made structures, decomposition, rust, weathering and the natural growth of lichen on grave stones - things that are ever present but rarely the focus of our attention. I studied wilting foliage at ground level, the change of season and the fading of colour. When life gets complicated and inevitably overwhelming, I find myself drawn to the unrelenting seasonal cycle of nature and how the seemingly unattended woods, tow paths and common land adjacent to my home are sturdily just doing their thing of growing, blooming and shining. They are unstoppable.  

The simplest things are sometimes the hardest – to be more active, to eat better, to be mindful etc. But to get out of our front door and take notice of small things, simple things is where I’ve started.