The Flowering Sun and Phases of the Moon
‘The Flowering Sun’ series of paintings are inspired by both the sun, and the wild flower ‘Cat’s Ear’ (Hypochaeris radicata). Also known as flatweed or false dandelion, Cat’s Ear is a common bright yellow wild flower that opens and closes with the sun. I constructed a sphere of Cat’s Ear flowers which used as the starting point for my paintings. This series also led to a collaborative artwork including the words of poet/artist Rebecca Sharp, creating the work ‘A Healing Spell – The form of light gives form to light’.
The ‘Phases of the Moon’ series of works are inspired by the Moon and the wild flower, Hedge Bindweed.
The moon’s gravitational influence is the main driver of Earth’s tides and it’s phases are linked to the growing cycle of plants. Hedge Bindweed, or Calystegia sepium (also known as bugle vine, heavenly trumpets, bellbind etc) is a herbaceous perennial that twines around other plants, in a counter-clockwise direction. At dusk the trumpet-like white flowers of Hedge Bindweed seem almost luminous in the fading light, and stay open into the night, all night if there is a moon. Similar to my sun series, I constructed a sphere of Bindweed flowers to work from to create these paintings.
