Artist’s Statement

I see the garden at night, in the moonlight as a metaphor for life and growth and the creativity that comes out of the mystery of the dark—the blackness, the earth, the bed of fertility. The darkness is what mystics call the ‘inside’ of things, the essence of things. Meister Eckhart, a German theologian and philosopher observed, “The ground of the soul is dark”. It is where the true self lies. The idea of walking in a garden in the moonlight is like a dream, or a journey through the underworld. The night garden is a place of magic and mystery.

My work focuses on the relationship between light, form and texture. The images although drawn from nature, are intended to be symbolic and metaphorical. Gardens have been part of human experience from early times. In the creation myths of many cultures, gardens are depicted as places of spiritual significance, both a place of blissful paradise and innocence, and also the place where the frailty of humankind was played
out, as in the story of the Garden of Eden: a paradox. Anyone involved with gardens knows how they can touch our souls in countless ways. Garden and soul comprise a kind of secret ’in-between-world,’ a space between the light and the dark, culture and nature, conscious and unconscious, spirit and body. This body of work is an exploration of these paradoxes.

I aim to depict a mystical quality of light emanating from the images. I apply layers of oil paint mixed with cold wax medium onto the surface, scraping it on, allowing the under layers to show through. Then I work into the surface, wiping away the paint in the areas where the light would strike, to create the image. The light comes from below, through the deeper layers and the flowers appear to have a luminous glow almost as if lit from within.

In this work I continue to examine the themes of transformation and growth that
fascinate me—themes which are related to our individual journeys of self-discovery and the celebration of the mystery of life.

back