I recently completed a new painting called Forest and Water.
As often happens with my work, the title came after the painting was well underway. While I wasn’t trying to depict a particular forest or body of water, I found myself returning to colours and movements that reminded me of the natural world.
Layers of green, rust, deep blue, and flashes of orange-red began to build across the canvas. The colours felt familiar, like elements gathered from a walk through the woods, a riverbank, or a landscape in transition between seasons.
What interests me most about this painting is its sense of movement.
Transparent white bands move across the surface, weaving through and around the other colours. To me, they suggest many things at once: water currents, pathways, shifting light, wind moving through trees, or simply the passage of time. They create connections between different areas of the painting while allowing the layers beneath to remain visible.
I’ve always been drawn to the idea that nature is never still. Even in moments that appear quiet, countless changes are taking place beneath the surface. Water is flowing. Trees are growing. Light is shifting. Seasons are advancing.
In many ways, abstract painting allows me to explore those ideas without needing to represent them directly.
Rather than painting a specific place, I try to capture a feeling. A memory. A rhythm. A sense of being immersed in something larger than ourselves.
As I worked on Forest and Water, I found myself thinking about how interconnected everything is. The forest depends on the water. The water shapes the land. The land influences the growth of the forest. Each element affects the others in ways that are both obvious and subtle.
Perhaps that is one reason I am continually inspired by nature. It offers endless reminders that movement and change are not disruptions to life—they are part of life itself.
I hope Forest and Water invites viewers to pause for a moment and reflect on those rhythms. To notice movement, connection, and the quiet energy that surrounds us every day.