Description

This is an expressive oil painting of a field of sunflowers, which I painted from memory.

I was the passenger in a car trip during the summer of 2021, as we bombed it across southern France. We were prioritising reaching our dear friend before night fall and didn’t have time to stop. (You know what it’s like, prioritising good people after not seeing them for so long because of the pandemic.)

I stared longingly out the passenger window, as we went past all these amazing sunflower fields. I noticed how most of them are the exact same height, except for the odd few, who rise up above the rest.

I didn’t plan this painting, I just let it evolve. I wanted to paint something for my sister-in-law, to replace a faded abstract watercolour that was taking up a prime position in her living room. It might be a bit too vivid for her taste and if that’s the case, my brother said he would sell it. He also added that he wouldn’t give me the money until I’d painted them something else – to keep me producing art! However it turns out that they love the painting and it works really well with their decor.

I painted this with a limited palette of 4 colours – cobalt blue, crimson red, lemon yellow, cadmium yellow and a white.