New Small Paintings

ready to greet the vernal equinox

Hello friends

I’ve been glad to get back into my studio in Orkney this last few weeks, settling back into the quiet rythms of painting after my sojourn in Edinburgh.

I have found it a solace, a refuge, and an anchor in these turbulent times. And it’s seen me through these last, long weeks of winter, when it feels like spring will never come.

‘Pale Sea #1’ Acrylic, mica and brass leaf on cradled board, framed in light oak

I don’t keep sketchbooks. I tend to work out ideas for larger paintings by working on small pieces, testing out ideas and materials, getting a feel for how I might approach a bigger work. The repetitive marks I use allow me to revisit ideas that still have something left to explore. They let me dive deeper and see what changes even a very small shift can create.

It’s never an exact repetition. Each time, subtle differences occur, by chance or intention. I am different each time too. As is the world, the weather, the light. The news. We never meet the same moment twice.

These paintings are my responses to the cold sea that surrounds Orkney, the cloudy winter skies, the slanted, golden light over the water in the evening. They are my response to this place and this season and the need to anchor my mind in the quiet space of creative work.

I have several gallery exhibitions coming up over this year, and I am busy developing work for these - more news about that in due course.

But alongside these bigger projects, these little paintings have been taking shape.

So I’m delighted to be able to release this collection of new small paintings, ready to greet the Vernal Equinox.

NEW WORKS NOW AVAILABLE

New Paintings available on my website

You can view the full collection on my website:

I hope you enjoy browsing!

The Life Raft Co-Creating Community

You are welcome to join me in the studio as I begin work on my next pieces. Come along to our weekly creative co-working session on Zoom. It’s very simple. We just say hello at the start and say what we plan to work on and then leave our cameras on and work together in companionable silence. We start at 3pm UK time and finish around 4.30pm. [Please note that if you arrive late and we’ve already begun work it disrupts the quiet focus, so do try and join us promptly or you won’t be admitted - sorry!] I’ll share a recording to the paid subscriber chat.

That’s all for this week!

Sam