Ignition

I was busy at the start of 2020 creating new artworks for exhibitions that I had planned for this year. In April I was due to be exhibiting at the Gardens Gallery in Cheltenham with other members of Junction 12. Junction 12 is a group of local artists, with whom I collaborate to put on exhibitions, and we had a number of others planned for later on in the year in various locations around Gloucestershire. I was also looking forward to taking part in Art in the Park in Imperial Gardens in July – a wonderful four-week outdoor exhibition of art by a wide range of local artists.

I am proud of the artworks that I created to display in these exhibitions. While I won’t be showing them in a gallery in the near future, I would like to introduce some of them to you, and tell you about the inspiration behind these pieces.

This first piece is called Ignition. It is part of a series of paintings that I have been working on called Elemental, inspired by the ancient Greek elements of earth, water, air and fire. Ignition was inspired by fire, which is both dangerous and destructive while also being comforting and mesmerising. This piece is intended to evoke the comforting and calming emotions aroused by sitting by an open fire, entranced by the dancing flames.

Ignition is 116cm by 25cm, acrylic on MDF. I painted individual acrylic pours on smaller pieces of MDF, which were then put back together to create the composite work. For each of the individual panels, I used fluid paint, which I poured onto the MDF and then manipulated using air, to create the delicate patterns of the flames as they burst upwards.

We have a multi-fuel stove in our house, but we never use it. I love the warmth and comfort of these stoves, but I’m not keen on the mess and pollution that they produce. While this painting waits to find a new home, I am enjoying having it hanging on the wall in our sitting room in place of a fire. No mess, and those flames keep dancing to hypnotise me even on a warm spring day.

Would you like a painting of an enticing fire on your wall?