Familiarity need not breed contempt; it can bring a greater awareness. For Artworks this year I have been working from one image of Suffolk with the intention of achieving one large painting. It is an image of sunlight seen through trees. The Suffolk landscape is full of these moments and I am interested in trying to understand what I am experiencing when I see them. By working continually from one image, clarity emerges with each study piece I produce. “Suffolk is flat” “Suffolk is dull” people cry but actually Suffolk is full of moments of excitement, colour, light, but how to express these things is a constant battle for me. What am I actually feeling? How can this be translated into paint?

I have developed a technique of stretching a manipulated canvas over a curving stretcher. This not only echoes nature but also creates an interaction with the viewer. Moving around the painting, diverse aspects become dominant, the light catches it differently down a slope, the eye is attracted by a row of stitching, interesting shadows are thrown on to the wall. This all builds to give the viewer a complex experience. A painting understood over time becomes a continuing relationship, to be savoured slowly.