This painting represents a step on my path towards a deeper visual expression of the life force of trees and other plants. I think of it as a plant portrait. It tries to capture the very short moment in early spring when plants emerge from dormancy with exquisite delicacy and fragility.
This image began as a celebration of the dogwood tree in my garden, a native species in many a hedgerow, with vibrant red bark and tender bright green leaves as they unfurl from bud. It developed into something more about the negative spaces, and what lies beyond, in the cold spring light. The body of water has many meanings. It was inspired by a holy spring in Llanrhaeadr, St Dyfnog's Well, a mystical place that I am drawn to. The painting bears the scars of reworking as the image and its meaning revealed itself to me, as with much of my work. I don't hide this struggle, which is part of the process, a bit like kintsugi.
I painted this view of my garden after planting more trees and wild flowers over the winter, and creating a mound as a nod to the ancient burial mounds which dot the English landscape where I now live, and the landscape of my childhood in North Wales. The process of re-creating my garden inspired me to resume large scale studio painting after many years, and this was the first of these paintings. My garden is now a constant inspiration. The mound was still almost bare earth in places back then, and now, changing with the seasons, it buzzes with life.
