Love and Loss

''Fiona Drifting Down the River,' acrylic on canvas, 80 x 40 cm

A theme running through my paintings for the last 14 months has been that of loss, both in a personal way and of possessions lost through moves and events. Daily there are layers of loss which we constantly have to make adjustments for.  The 1st anniversary of my mother's passing is tomorrow, and last Wednesday my mother-in-law Stella passed away. I was fortunate to be in Cyprus with Stella for the first week of February and I feel blessed that I spent some time with her and also during the summer. She was the best mother-in-law anyone could wish for.

The painting posted above is a recent one which references my ideas of loss and movement through life and through unfamiliar territory. It was unplanned - most of my work evolves through processes of applying paint and allowing elements to emerge - but boats and a river appeared and it matched how I was feeling at the time. Certainly my past year has seen many changes and naturally this impacts on your thoughts about your paintings and how you want to translate your life experience and feelings. While my core interests continue, new thoughts start to tweak and adjust those interests.

Stella loved colour and so did my mother. I painted this canvas last year as a tribute to my mother but I am posting it also for Stella. I painted Daffodils because they herald Spring and my mother loved them and filled the kitchen at this time of year. 

'Daffodil Poem: Tribute to My Mother,' acrylic and oil on canvas, 90 x 45 cm

Due to various obligations I have not been able to do as much painting as I wished to in these first weeks of 2019 but I hope to get back to it soon. Here is another recent painting about the loss of much of my patio garden. It is still being considered for further work but I wanted to paint something about the traces left by plant pots, leaves that fell, shadows and marks on the walls, and the shadowy traces of stems and masses of disappearing foliage.

'The Remains of Things Gone,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 87 x 76 cm

Finally, I made a few paintings on paper while I was in Cyprus 10 days ago. The change of light filtered in to my colours. This is one of the paintings.

'A Land Far Away,' acrylic on 300 gsm paper, 21 x 29 cm

While I was in Cyprus I bought some acrylic paint and a certain kind of canvas I can not find in the UK. For my next post I will be writing about my favourite art materials and explaining why they work for me.