How ‘Hope’ was painted
I came to the North Sea late.
Not geographically – I’d been to the coast plenty of times. But I came to it properly, with my eyes open, when I started painting. And it changed how I see everything.
There’s something about standing in front of water that size that puts things in proportion. It doesn’t matter what you’re carrying – the sea is completely indifferent to it. And I mean that as a compliment. It just keeps moving. Storm, calm, storm again. Always moving toward something.
That’s where Hope came from.
I was watching the North Sea on a rough day – properly rough, the kind that makes you step back from the edge. And I remember thinking: even this will pass. Not in a resigned way. In a genuinely hopeful way. The storm isn’t the story. The calm that follows is.
I came back to the studio and started with deep blue. Heavy, serious blue that doesn’t apologise for itself. Layer after layer with palette knife and acrylic, building up texture until the surface felt like it had weight and movement. Then I worked in gold – not carefully, just where it felt right. Where the light would break through.
I’ve filmed some close-ups of the finished piece so you can see the texture properly – photographs never quite catch it. Take a look below.
Hope is 80 x 60cm, framed, and available now.
If it’s already found a home, I’m always up for a conversation about a commission in a similar spirit.
Talk to me about a commission.
