In November 2024 I showed a new body of work at Manchester Central, exhibited through the Darryl Nantais Gallery at Linton 59. The paintings continued my ongoing engagement with woodland and forest — large-scale works in oil and cold wax that explore structure, light, and the threshold quality of the natural world.

Gold enamel and cold wax medium

The question of detail in painting is not technical — it is philosophical. This post reflects on how I approach the relationship between precision and openness in my work, using a painting of Eaves Wood in Lancashire as a starting point for thinking about what detail is actually for.

This is the work currently in the studio. I have decided to produce a series of paintings based on the VolksPark in Berlin

I returned to the Edinburgh Art Fair in November 2023, showing a selection of forest paintings with Linton 59. Edinburgh is always a serious context for contemporary work — the audience is engaged and the standard of exhibiting galleries is high.

For centuries, the death of painting has been proclaimed. Since the invention of printing during the Han dynasty, artists have anxiously watched each new technological advancement. When the printing press emerged, artists had valid concerns, but they eventually leveraged mechanical reproduction to replicate their work and reach a broader audience. With photography's arrival, it became clear that the representation of reality could be handed over to an optical device capable o

How to be creative with oil paint and cold wax. Using Jeff Becks guitar playing for inspiration

Many artists will tell you that painting is a constant struggle — a battle with materials and ideas. To make paint say what you want to communicate is a never-ending challenge; it requires commitment, resolution, and self-belief, and paradoxically, a measure of delusional thinking. The tortured artist, working against impossible odds to release an inner creative spirit, is the stuff of folk legend. If the objective of personal expression could be readily achieved, a single pa

The surface of a cold wax painting is never passive. This post explores how I approach the building and reworking of a painted surface — the layering, the scraping back, the moments of decision — and what it means for a painting to feel alive rather than resolved.

Cold wax is not simply a material — it is a way of working. This post describes what cold wax medium is, how it behaves in combination with oil paint, and why its particular qualities — resistance, translucency, the way it holds a mark — have made it central to my practice over many years.

This work represents something of a departure. It is a graphic rendering of a winter tree, with a pronounced emphasis on drawing and linear qualities — a shift from the more atmospheric landscape work that typically occupies my practice. The painting uses oil, cold wax, bitumen, pumice stone powder, and enamel on an 80 × 80 cm canvas. 'The Dream of a Golden Tree' Oil, Cold Wax, bitumen, pumice stone, enamel on 80 x 80 cm Canvas Materials and Process The general process is re

The Fenlands of Britain exist in an imaginary space — out of time and out of step with an increasingly homogenised and utilitarian world. They are made up of woodlands, wet grasslands, marsh, bogs, meadows, and shallow ponds, teeming with life. There is a constant visual interplay between grasses, reeds, and water; between bramble, branches, and sky. Slow-moving rivers, lodes, and streams are seen through a tracery of golden arches and erratic parabolas. A rhythmic dance of c

Oil and Cold ax painting of a forest 100 x 150 cm on canvas

'Days stretched calm and plain to the horizon, as though we rose out of peat and will dwindle in a rumour of fog' Words by Emma Danes. This painting belongs to a group of works I have called The Light Series. It is a personal reflection on landscape — the landscape that surrounds me, the fields and skies of the Cambridgeshire Fenlands. The painting carries no topographical information: no trees, mountain peaks, hedgerows, or river valleys to navigate. The only compass availab

'After Glow' 80 x 80 cm Acrylic on Canvas 'Afterglow' — The Light Series This painting belongs to The Light Series, a group of works concerned with the landscape of the Cambridgeshire Fenlands. It is a personal reflection on the open fields and skies of East Anglia, though the work carries no topographical information to act as a compass or guide. There are no landmarks, no trees or hedgerows, no features that would anchor the image to a specific place. The viewer is left wit

Creating art is a fundamental part of my identity and a way for me to express my emotions and thoughts. When I make images, I feel like I’m connecting with something deeper. This process feels like a journey, where each brushstroke or pencil mark leads to new insights and understandings. Art helps me capture the complexities of life—its beauty, chaos, and mysteries. Each piece I create represents a specific moment, emotion, or idea that interests me. Making art isn't just abo

This painting, 'Archaeology of Thought', is made in oil and cold wax medium on a cradled wooden board. It belongs to a continuing body of work concerned with landscape, climate, and sensory experience translated into paint — work that asks what it means to record a place not through description but through accumulation. The title is deliberate. Archaeology implies excavation: the careful removal of material to reveal what lies beneath. But it also implies the reverse — the sl

'One Hundred Years of Solitude' 150 x 100 cm Oil on Canvas

A landscape painting of Thetford Forest in oil and cold wax medium

A Minimalist abstract painting based on water and clouds