Written 4.1.24 on sharing the completed work:
Paintings are often finished when they tell me their name. The first painting of 2024 announced itself on 2 January by yelling 'WILD' inside my head. A day later it said in a smaller, more heart felt voice, "actually, Wild Hope" unwittingly echoing the title of Donna Ashworth's collection of poetry, 'Wild Hope, Healing words to find light on dark days'. 2024 feels like a time for wild and radical hope.
This painting is about presence, and breathing as though through your skin. It speaks to an awareness on wild weather days of being part of a greater whole - exhilarated, in a state of awe, conscious of our legs and breath and body, amazed at our luck in being alive.
It is also a painting about relationship. One colour, for example pale phthalo green placed next to or on top of a bleached yellow will sing in a particular way. Move that same colour and place it with a mossy green or a deep blue and it vibrates differently.
The same is true for humans. Our relationships, community and sense of belonging matter. They are what makes everything possible- including the contribution we are able to make and our courage in doing so.
May your 2024 be full of colour. May you sing your song in relationship and community with all the other colours. May your songs be glorious and full of Wild Hope.
