Amaryllis (Welcome) - Acrylic, gloss varnish on canvas, 20cm x 20cm x 1cm (May 2023) - It is almost a tradition now to grow an Amaryllis here in the studio as the year turns, to watch it as it grows alongside the early Daffodils and Winter starts to hint of Spring. They grow from almost nothing and they give so much, a new Amaryllis is a hopeful thing, a glorious thing, there's so much to them and once they get growing they grow so quickly, you can almost imagine you can see the growth and then comes the burst as the first flower opened and then the other five or six, everyone should grow an Amaryllis.
This year I painted the Amaryllis as it came into bud, then I painted it in what I guess you'd call a traditional way as the flowers appeared and then I played with the imagery, the shape it made, I played with the repeat (I was originally a textile designer), I repeated the image a number of times - fresh layers, new growth, as it were... And sometimes, as with this one, the new layer was on an older painting (a painting is never finished until someone takes it away)
The painting is signed in my traditional way with an "S" on the actual artwork and fully signed, dated and titled on the back