Paint what you want to see
Moving forward in painting
The past few weeks have been busy with family, teaching and admin, but as we head towards summer I'm back in the studio and have started some new paintings that will take me through to the autumn. All my work is connected — one group of paintings leads on to the next — so as I begin new work, I consider what has come before and ask myself: where next?
Sunflower Field Study, acrylic on paper, 2026
Towards the end of April I made a few paintings of sunflower heads that I had seen in a field near me. I found myself thinking about those images a lot and knew I wanted to explore them on a larger scale. I also wanted to shift my colour palette, incorporating brighter and hotter colours — in particular oranges and pinks against deep turquoise. I don't often "see" a palette before I begin work, but this combination sat in my head for weeks and I knew I had to explore it in paint.
Studio View - June 2026, York UK
Paintings falling into place
I then moved onto canvas, working with water-based paints on loose canvases that are later cut and stretched, ready for further development. This extra step, before I begin working in oils, adds another layer of marks and surface quality to the work. I'm also allowing the natural colour of the cotton to remain visible, rather than creating a more traditional white ground.
Below you can see the same canvas, now stretched and developed with oils. This painting is still in progress, but the final image is beginning to emerge. I'd begun working with hot oranges and pinks earlier in the year and knew I wanted to experience this palette on a larger scale.
Untitled (new work Summer 2026), Oil and acrylic on canvas, 120cm x 100cm.
Detail of new work , June 2026, Oil and acrylic on canvas
Paint what you want to see
I've been thinking a lot recently about the decision to paint what I want to see. This might sound obvious, but believe me, painters can tie themselves in knots over what they "should" or "shouldn't" be painting — let alone how they should paint it.
I've been listening to lots of snippets from David Hockney interviews over the past few weeks and have always admired his singular approach to painting: paint what you want — a dog, a man, a tree…
There was always a real joy in the act of drawing and painting for Hockney, and a value in simply recording what you see. Not in the way a camera records an instant, but in the way a person sees — through their own unique lens of experience, memory, feeling and time. I love this quote too, from a very different artist, Philip Guston - he reflects:
"If I speak of having a subject to paint, I mean there is a forgotten place of beings and things, which I need to remember. I want to see this place — I paint what I want to see."
So this is my challenge, to paint what I want to see - whether I'm seeing with my eyes or my imagination.
New Watercolours
Untitled (new series for Summer 2026), Watercolour on board, A4
I've also started a new small series of watercolours — allowing colour and gesture to wander freely in response to the changing seasons and the colours in and outside of my studio. These works are A4 (11.7 x 8.3 inches) and email subscribers will have an exclusive preview window to see them before they go on my website. A preview of this collection will go out to my email list in July - sign up below if you’d like to see them first too.
