Painting: Neowise

This painting reflects a time for me when I felt very connected to the night sky. This coincided with the arrival of the comet ‘Neowise’. I’m an avid sky watcher and events like this are very interesting to me.

This is a self portrait and I’m reaching into the night sky, immersing my hands in the red that represents blood as a cosmic element. This painting was another important style development for me, with my brushwork getting looser and the increased use of palette knives. I use a lot of layers and glazing to get deep multi-layered colour like this deep blood red.

Neowise featured in the 2022 Scottish Portrait Awards exhibition and was exhibited as part of this at our local venue, Duff House.