Oil on canvas board

Signed on the back.

'Finding Clarity' was the first painting in a series that followed inspired simply by enjoying a bunch of poppies sitting on my kitchen bench early in 2023.
I had bought them from the market - just a handful of buds and stems. Over the following days I watched and observed how they transformed and 'came alive', somehow very expressive of human nature in their gestural habit

So delightfully vivid and happy one minute, but then so exquisitely limp and sad the next.
I felt connected and emotional watching them unfold daily - then hourly! From bold and bright to sorrowful and beaten. That same feeling of listening to a sad song when each word is speaking to you.
The Poppies are so incredibly beautiful and fragile. Expressing sadness, joy, melancholy and everything in between. I loved the challenge of capturing this complex 'bunch' throughout the year - and now I notice them everywhere.

I worked in oils on this canvas board as a study, and was pleasantly surprised with the result, particularly of the reflective glass. This painting was a great impetus for me to keep going with the Poppies and develop a series on stretched canvas and linen in various sizes