Landscape With Turf and Mint Ice Cream Sky

oil on canvas | 80 × 100 cm | 2026

"Long painting sessions are hemmed in with sentries of self-doubt, which in turn explode into light-headed sugar rush buzzy episodes, often followed by a sense of unshakeable purpose."

Landscape With Turf and Mint Ice Cream Sky

oil on canvas | 80 × 100 cm | 2026

This painting has had many lives. There is even a man with a bird in his hand holding a cage underneath. He jumped from ink drawings I made while in Italy in 2023. I thought he would stay, especially when the blue surrounded him, but he decided to leave.

The Naples yellow spray of the waves holds a space on the right of the painting, but it took years to earn it. I drove past fields on the way to the studio filled with piles of rich brown manure waiting to be spread. A majestic brown, noble even. The tan colour underneath came from the brush in the fields behind it.

The mint ice cream sky stayed for two years while I painted the rest, untouched and resilient, except for a slight intrusion of yellow and blue. The solid green sculptural element arrived late and became the quiet anchor for the whole painting. It knew it needed to be there before I did.