One of the most important things about a painting is the inspiration behind it. What does this painting mean, why did you paint it and why paint that over something else?

While some people might disagree with that, and say all that matters is what the viewer thinks of it, this is a question I get asked a lot. Just as writers are asked where their ideas come from, so are artists. And I’m curious about other painters’ inspiration too! For a long time for me the answer was very straightforward – I painted things I liked the look of or that made me happy. Slowly this moved to me focusing on mainly painting landscapes (and I used to be scared of painting landscape as I thought I could never be a ‘proper artist’ like that). I am still very motivated and inspired by the sight of a beautiful sunset, but my thoughts about those views and why I want to paint them has deepened.

In the past few years I have pushed myself as an artist and I feel like my art has really grown as a result. I have been thinking about contemporary landscape art, what I am drawn to in other artist’s work what I want to explore within it myself. There are a few things I have been focusing on in my recent paintings as a result.

‘Coastal Lovers’, oil on canvas, 100x50cm

I love colour, little details that ground you in a moment, and the way that a view can hold so many memories and feelings from our lives. I love views that tell a story and make us feel part of the bigger world, that make us feel grounded and connected, and resonate with our dreams.

This might seem like a lot of big things to hold in a landscape, but geography is so important to us as human beings, and these big meanings fold their way into paintings in small and surprising ways.

For the first painting of 2024 I recreated a sunset I photographed several years ago, on another January evening. I had been feeling quite low that day, and the gentle pinks of the sunset really lifted my spirits. I saved the photo for that reason and knew I wanted to bring out that feeling of hope and tranquillity in the painting. I focused on making the sky as large and dominant as I could, to emphasise the feeling of wonder that the sunset gave me. And to make the winter cold feel present in the painting I made the greens of the fields as cool and frosty as I dared, while keeping a contrasting and supporting colour chroma for the sunset. I wanted this painting, ‘Grace’, to feel full of possibility and like you could wander off into the horizon.

I have also been experimenting with including figures and some objects in my landscapes, to be able to explore our relationship with the outdoors and the moments people feel one with nature. In this large cloudscape ‘Kismet’, I explored painting large majestic skies again, as well as renaissance style clouds, soft but complementary colours and used a small sailing boat to show how big the sky really can be. I think the boat grounded the scale of this painting, and I love that painting a landscape with big clouds and a sailboat shows the way sailing and being in the water can connect people with nature and give a feeling of peace and adventure. This cloud came from a sunset over fields, and I’m sure I’ll paint it again, but I wanted to play with reflections and that sense of adventure with a little boat this time.

‘Kismet’, oil on canvas, 120x100cm, (2024)

I hope you enjoyed reading about some of my inspiration and how I am combining real views with the storytelling elements of art I want to play with to make contemporary landscape paintings full of colour, emotion, and story. You can browse all of my available landscape paintings here.

Ps. A reminder that I am exhibiting next at the Sussex Art Fair at Goodwood racecourse from 10-12 May 2024, so if you want to see my work in person (and say hi) this would be a perfect event!

How I am growing my landscape art in 2024