Summertime

Winter Light: How Darkness Inspires My Most Vibrant Paintings

In the dead of winter, new paintings are born, often more vibrant than at any other time of year. The sun may set early, but it never truly stops shining. With every new painting, I invite the sunshine in.

Creating Art in the Darkest Months

As winter reaches its peak and darkness envelops the land, I crave light and dream of summer. Like many artists, I retreat into the studio during these colder months, seeking refuge and focus. Inevitably, my longing for warmth and brightness transfers itself onto the canvas.

The light flows from within, and some of my most vivid paintings emerge during winter. It may be dark outside, but my artwork becomes filled with colour, movement, and radiance. This contrast between external darkness and inner light shapes my creative process more than any other season.

Light as a Fundamental Human Need

Light is a fundamental human need. When it is absent from our environment, it finds other ways to manifest in our lives. For me, such manifestation appears through painting.

Each year, I witness the light I long to see in the world brought forth by my own inner need for chromatic intensity. Immersed in the act of creation, my hunger for colour is satiated by a personal fountain of creativity. Painting becomes both a response to winter and a quiet form of resistance against its darkness.

Winter, Regeneration, and the Creative Cycle

Though I may long for the colder months to end, I value their purpose. Winter is a time of regeneration. Nature withdraws. Creatures enter hibernation. Yet the Earth continues its slow, cyclical motion.

There is wisdom in this pause, and in turning inward. As an artist, I acknowledge winter as an essential part of the creative cycle. It is a season that strips things back, making space for reflection, renewal, and ultimately, light. In acknowledging this rhythm, I express a deep reverence for the cyclical wisdom of our planet, and for the way darkness itself gives rise to creation.

Acrylic on canvas

W112 X H97 X D4 cm

 £1500

SUMMERTIME

The creativity of life unfolds

And permeates the canvas,

As the sun rotates in the sky.

The ticking clockwork of life

Unleashes multiple expressions of existence

Within a single moment.

The weaving of nature’s energies becomes perceptible

Through the flight of birds against a pastel sky.

They remind me of the space and freedom

That comes every summertime.

The sun’s intense reflection on the ocean

Contrasts with the soft partitioned sky.

The cycle will complete

And the same light will return

When the sun peaks in the sky,

Next summertime.

A note on this recent creation:

Contemporary landscape and geometric abstraction cohabit within this painting. Hidden patterns found in nature are revealed through the use of geometry, while a juxtaposition of techniques introduces complexity and movement. The ocean appears animated, and the sun’s rotation is suggested through rhythm and repetition across the surface.

The ethereal sky feels expansive, achieved through layered paint blended with medium. Matte and metallic acrylics create sharp, luminous contrasts, allowing subdued tones to sit in dialogue with the intense sunlight reflected on the ocean. This interplay establishes a balance between softness and brilliance, calm and vitality.

Written and painted in London, where winter’s long shadows continue to shape my relationship with light and colour.

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