The Gorse Arrives to Steal The Show

The Gorse Arrives to Steal The Show

oil on canvas | 80 × 100 cm | 2026 

This painting began in Italy with an orange oil wash, some of which is still visible in the top left-hand corner. Shapes evolved and were painted out. Later, walking on a deserted beach in Ireland, I came across rock formations that stopped me in my tracks, they were so perfectly abstract. When I drew them I got a sense of the American abstract painter Clyfford Still in their shapes. That gave me the confidence to paint them in.

Time is as important a medium as paint. A mustard haze oil wash came from an image of the nearby fields in autumn. Then, feeling buoyant one day, I wanted to try a single continuous large brushstroke. That is where the yellow appeared. I see it as the gorse flower bushes, the first bright colour in this area every January. I love the continuous life force of the yellow gorse and how it rescues you after a long grey winter.

The structure on the right came from my love of sculptural poured concrete shapes — bunkers, old abandoned bus stops, handball alleys scattered around the Irish countryside. In this painting they give a man-made counterbalance to the randomness of nature.