Dawn

Oil on canvas | 50cm diameter | 2023

Dawn continues a series of round rose paintings I have been returning to for a few years now. Two earlier pieces in the series, Pearl and Rose Glow, were sold to a collector in 2023, and Dawn picks up where that exploration left off.

There is something about painting a single rose, isolated and large within the circle, that keeps drawing me back. The petals catch the light in such delicate, shifting ways, moving from a soft blush at the centre out to that cool, pale grey-lavender at the edges. Getting that transition to feel luminous rather than simply pale is the quiet technical challenge I set myself each time.

In Dawn, the early morning quality of the light felt especially present, hence the name. The bloom feels as though it has just opened, still holding onto the cool of the night in its outer petals while warming gently towards the centre.

I am currently working on a companion piece to Dawn, continuing the same palette and format, so that the two can eventually be shown or owned together.