<h1>For There She Was</h1>

Centenary Exhibition of Mrs Dalloway Through the Eyes of 12 Contemporary Artists

To mark 100 years since the publication of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, David Simon Contemporary presents a powerful group exhibition featuring 12 contemporary artists. Through painting, sculpture, ceramics, and mixed media, the show reflects on Woolf’s modernist masterpiece—its characters, its fleeting moments, and its enduring themes.

<h1>About the Exhibition</h1>

This centenary exhibition invites twelve visual artists to respond to Mrs Dalloway—a novel set over a single day in June 1923, rich with shifting perspectives and quiet revelations.

Featured artists include Chloë Holt FRSA, Steven Hubbard, Sara Ingleby-Mackenzie, Victoria Jinivizian NEAC, Alice Mumford RWA, Emma Rose, Mike Service, Richard Twose, The Chelsea Potter, Sue Wales, Frances Watts, and Neil Wood. Their works form a layered, lyrical response to Woolf’s themes of identity, memory, time, and the inner lives of her characters.

Each artist brings a distinct voice and visual language, illuminating the novel’s timeless resonance in a contemporary context.

<h1>Exhibition Dates &amp; Private Views</h1>

London
Private View: Tuesday 3 June, 6–8pm
Venue: 54 The Gallery, Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London W1J 7QX
Exhibition Dates: 3–8 June 2025
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Somerset
Private View: Saturday 14 June, 3–5pm
Venue: David Simon Contemporary, 37 High Street, Castle Cary, BA7 7AW
Exhibition Dates: 14 June – 12 July 2025
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<h1>A preview of selected works will be available here soon.</h1>

<a href="https://www.davidsimoncontemporary.com/exhibitions/63-for-there-she-was-centenary-exhibition-of-virginia-woolfs-mrs-dalloway-through/overview/">View full exhibition details on David Simon Contemporary ›</a>

Monday - Saturday 10am - 5.30pm
(Closed Wednesday &amp; Sunday)

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'For There She Was' at David Simon Contemporary

“The earth after the shower was fresh; a river of life flowed.” - &#39;Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway&#39;

This painting is inspired by the discovery of an ancient, overgrown pool in a field near my home—its surface scattered with lily pads and iris fronds. Drawing on Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, I explore the idea of “water and the sky,” a space where consciousness drifts toward oblivion. As Woolf writes, “In the depths, light trembled still.” It is a place where hallucination dissolves the boundary between self and world.

The paintings are both ethereal and soft, yet marked by distressed, scratched textures—suggesting mental friction, fragmentation, and a surrender to either the depth of the waters or the reflections on their surface. Reeds and lily pads transform into ghostly, dripping calligraphic lines—memories trying to rise. We exist between layers.

Clarissa’s green dress in the novel is likened to “mermaids singing, each to each.” My work feels submerged in a similar way—our identities fluid and shifting. There is a sense of delicacy here, of transient, elusive beauty.

Oil, raw pigment, oil bar and gesso on board in 1920s Art Deco antique frame 
104 cm w x 83 cm h unframed
138 cm w x 119 cm h x 8 cm d

Where Water Holds Light

“At Bourton they always had stiff little vases all down the table. Sally went out, picked hollyhocks, dahlias — all sorts of flowers that had never been seen together — cut their heads off, and made them swim on the top of water in bowls. The effect was extraordinary — coming in from the sunlit garden into the darkened room, the light making the petals luminous, some floating, some sinking, all with the incomparable beauty of their frail, quivering, yet daring life.” — Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway

This painting responds to Woolf’s vivid image of flower heads floating in bowls—fragile, luminous, and boldly un-arranged. I was drawn to the tension between order and wildness, tradition and quiet rebellion.

The blooms hover in a densely layered surface—part reflection, part memory. The textured paint suggests both water and distortion, evoking the fragility of the moment and the fluidity of perception. Light and shadow shift across the composition, echoing Woolf’s theme of transience and inner life. The bowl becomes a vessel not for preservation, but for transformation.

Encaustic wax, oil paint, raw pigment with gesso on board in antique frame.
51 cm w x 41 cm h unframed
69 cm w x 58.5 cm h x 6 cm d framed

Beauty Has a Meaning

“Behind the veil of the flesh was the pure soul, the narrow chamber, the candle burning.”
— Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway

This painting explores the idea of the hidden self—the quiet, flickering presence of the soul beneath the surface. A space for quiet contemplation.

The “candle” is a metaphor: a subtle, enduring light within our lives. The rough, scraped surface evokes memory, time, and the tension between inner stillness and outer decay. Like an attic rarely entered, this work holds something intimate, fragile, and quietly defiant.

Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique frame.
51 cm w x 41 cm h unframed
69 cm w x 58.5 cm h x 6 cm d framed

Candle In The Attic

“The incomparable beauty of their frail, quivering, yet daring life... The leaden circles dissolved in the air.”
— Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway

&#39;Floating Hours&#39; continues the reflection begun in &#39;Beauty Had a Meaning&#39; — a meditation on memory, impermanence, and the fleeting beauty of time suspended. The painting depicts pewter bowls of water filled with drifting, fragmented forms—petals, reflections, shadows—all caught in a moment of soft transience.

The circular vessels suggest both stillness and motion, like Woolf’s “leaden circles” of the chimes of time echoing from Big Ben ringing out over London. Some forms appear to rise toward the surface; others sink into the depths. These bowls become vessels of remembrance, where beauty and loss coexist.

There’s a quiet tension in the composition: between light and dark, surface and depth, presence and fading. The flowers are like lingering thoughts. This work, like the novel, is a space where time floats rather than passes, and where meaning is felt in its most delicate, dissolving form.

Encaustic wax, oil paint, raw pigment with gesso on board in antique frame.
76 cm w x 66 cm h unframed
96 cm w x 85.5 cm h x 7 cm d

Floating Hours

“She had a sense of letting go; and as she did so, up rose into the air the faces of the others… they floated about her like mermaids, and sang…”
— Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway

Nymphaea draws on the atmosphere of the ancient, hidden pool—overgrown with lily pads and iris fronds—where sky and water meet and dissolve. The painting is both landscape and inner state, a drifting meditation on memory, identity, and the momentary clarity that emerges from stillness.

Inspired by Woolf’s vision of mermaids, moonlight, and dissolving selves, this piece imagines the water as a veil between consciousness and oblivion. Layers of blue, earth, and shadow evoke both the depths of the pond and the vastness of the sky reflected in it. The lilies are not perfectly rendered but more felt-impressions of ethereal shapes surfacing through the delicate surface.

The work holds a tension between fluid lightness and grounded weight: soft, transparent washes contrast with dark, distressed textures that suggest the friction of thought, the fragility of memory. The surface is alive with movement, yet subdued, as if the image is slowly emerging—or vanishing.

Nymphaea is a painting of thresholds: between presence and absence, self and world, light and shadow. Like the fleeting beauty Woolf describes, it floats—delicate, uncertain, but undeniably there.

Mixed media on Arches Oil Paper
131 cm h x 71 cm w unframed
140 cm h x 80 cm w Framed in simple modern white frame floating on mount board behind glass

Nymphaea

“In the depths, light trembled still.”
— Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway

In Syrinx, the surface of the water becomes a screen onto which memory, myth, and sensation are projected. Dense with reeds and iris fronds, the painting captures the tangle of the subconscious—a place where forms are in flux and boundaries dissolve. The tall, slender marks rise and waver like breath or sound, evoking the nymph Syrinx, who was transformed into reeds to escape pursuit, her voice carried on the wind as music.

Here, the reeds are not only natural forms but also vessels of transformation. They cut through layers of blue, grey, and rust, like thoughts breaking through water’s surface. The iris fronds—sharp, gestural, and flowing—lend the piece a sense of movement and fragility, suggesting both resistance and surrender.

This is a painting of verticals and echoes, of reflections and ruptures. The water becomes both mirror and depth. The atmosphere is soft, but the textures are fractured, hinting at the mind’s quiet turbulence.

Syrinx is a meditation on identity held loosely, beautifully, in a space of in-betweenness—where light trembles, and memory becomes form.

Mixed media on Arches Oil Paper
131 cm h x 71 cm w unframed
140 cm h x 80 cm w Framed in simple modern white frame floating on mount board behind glass

Syrinx

Representative Gallery - <a href="https://chrisholmesantiques.co.uk/collections/art">Chris Holmes Antiques &amp; Art</a>, North Yorkshire.

Chris Holmes Antiques &amp; Art, 22-24 Finkle Street, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, HG5 8AA
<a href="https://g.page/ChrisHolmesAntiques?share">Directions to the Gallery</a>

By Appointment and
Saturday 11-4pm

Make your appointment with Chris <a href="tel:447771962494">+44(0)7771 962494</a>
<a href="mailto:chris@chrisholmesantiques.co.uk">chris@chrisholmesantiques.co.uk</a>

Chris Holmes Antiques & Art

From the series &quot;Seville Triptych&quot; &#39;Cochineal Red Wisteria&#39;.
&#39;Jasminum officinale L. (Common Jasmine) and &#39;Wisteria sinensis Sweet&#39; (Chinese wisteria) intertwine in large abundance over the external deep Cochineal red walls in the Jewish Quarter outside the Alcázar. Your senses are overwhellmed with the scent of the wisteria, striking clusters of butterfly shaped lilac flowers which give off an intoxicating aroma. They cover the gallery of the Garden of Galera in the Real Alcázar - in winter letting light and heat in and in summer sifting the intense light by forming this beautiful natural lattice of abundant leaves.
In the background the sound of sparkling waters from a nearby marble fountain with tiered cascades is being visted by a graceful white dove.

Jasmine is often considered the flower of Paradise, or the symbol of divine love. Since the jasmine flowers precisely in May, the month dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the flower is associated with her image. It is also highly valued in Islamic culture, we know from a fragment of an ancient Arabic poem that King al-Mutamid loved the scent of jasmine, and would have filled his gardens with the wonderful plant the during his dynasty in Seville between 1040-1095.

Cochineal red pigment extracted from the tiny bettle which lives on the Prickily Pear plant, was one of the colours the Spanish tresure fleets brought in peak quanity from the Americas during the 16th and 17th Centuries. Only the ports at Seville and Cadiz were permitted to import the pigment. The wonderous deep scarlet colour was used in profusion, in the 16th Century textiles were dyed in the brightest and most saturated red dyers had ever seen, followed by use within the European painters palette as seen within Baroque paintings from the beginning of the 17th Century.

Mixed media on canvas in handmade frame
183 cm h x 85 cm unframed
202 cm h x 100 cm w m 4.5 cm d

Cochineal Red Wisteria

Part of &#39;The Seville Triptych&#39;. Outside the battlements of the Real Alcázar de Sevilla, the Moorish Royal Palace with fountain-filled gardens and one of the most exceptional botanical and citrus collections dating back to the 16th Century, is the passage Calle Judería next to Plaza de los Venerables (Hospital of the Venerable Priests). The street is notable for its intense golden ochre walls, and in early April wisteria tumbles with joyous abandonment over the top lintel giving furtive glimpses of an secret internal courtyard housing palms, cyprus and magnolia trees.

Mixed media on canvas in handmade frame
183 cm h x 85 cm unframed
202 cm h x 100 cm w m 4.5 cm d

Ochre Wall Alcázar

Part of the &quot;Seville Triptych&quot; Casa De Los Pinelo is a 16th Century Renaissance period house in the centre of Seville. The central courtyard is designed in a traditional layout which has been used since Roman times, creating a cool and tranquil space which houses a collection of &#39;Citrus Aurantium L.&#39; or the Bitter (Seville) Orange. 
Small oranges are scattered across the unswept floor, with scented fallen blossoms and leaves. The fruit is associated with paradise in many cultures, in Greek and Roman myth Hercules stole the &#39;golden&#39; fruit from the Garden of the Hesperides. The distinctive presence of the orange trees in Southern Europe is linked with the arrival of the Arabs who introduced them for ornamental value, and specifically for the heady scent of their flower, the orange blossom. Muslim kings of al-Andalus composed their courtyards with orange trees in all four corners, so when passing by on the first floor open terraces they could reach to harvest the fruits and inhale the sweet scent of the blossoms.

This series of paintings are a lot about light, and sun and shadows - creating a kind of magic in a contemplative space making you observe with a different state of mind.
Jasmine and the spectacular and strange large leaves of &#39;Monstera deliciosa Liebm.&#39; or Monstera deliciosa climb the crumbling white washed walls. 
The foliage and walls inadvertently make your eyes raise upwards towards the skies. Visiting inward facing palaces and gardens in Seville, give the feeling of being in a sacred space, where the sky is framed by these wild botanical walls. The light is beautifully coming inside, it&#39;s changing all the time as the sun acts as a sundial, the brightness shards of light illuminating alongside softened dappled cooling surfaces.

Mixed media on canvas in handmade frame
183 cm h x 85 cm unframed
202 cm h x 100 cm w m 4.5 cm d

Casa De Los Pinelo

Finestra is a meditation on light, material and memory. Composed on my studio table in front of a window, the objects—two earthenware bowls of lemons, one holding a pair of serving spatulas, a 17th-century Italian maiolica jug, an unglazed water vessel, and small wax containers—are rendered in silhouette, transformed by the backlight into quiet, almost imprinted forms. The lemons, often depicted in southern Italian ceramics as symbols of vitality and abundance, bring warmth and familiarity, their presence connecting centuries of domestic ritual and visual tradition.

The red wax vessels—once used in a London bronze foundry to cast works by Elizabeth Frink and Henry Moore—introduce a subtle narrative of process and legacy. In Finestra, I explore the relationship between the functional and the poetic: how humble, timeworn objects, when placed in a certain light, carry a kind of still resonance. The work is not only a still life but a window into a contemplative space where past and present quietly converge.

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 148 x 83cm.

Finestra 

Negrita captures a moment at the beginning of spring, when the world starts to loosen its grip on winter and colour quietly returns. The painting centres around parrot tulips and roses—flowers that, to me, symbolise both fragility and strength. Their forms are sculptural, almost unruly, yet they hold themselves with a grace that feels deeply rooted in the earth’s seasonal rhythms.

These blooms are painted not as decoration, but as living forms caught in transition—unfurling, tilting, reaching towards light. The composition is expressive and textured, reflecting the energy and unpredictability of early spring. In Negrita, I was interested in capturing not just the appearance of flowers, but the atmosphere around them: the air, the stillness, the sense of something beginning. It is both a botanical study and a quiet celebration of seasonal change—where new life is felt before it is fully seen.

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

126 x 67cm (140 x 80 cm approx Framed)

Negrita

Kama is a word rich with ambiguity—it can mean kiln, oven, or stove in Japanese—but beyond that, it carries a sense of transformative heat and elemental change. In this work, I’ve tried to embody the feeling of kama not just as a functional vessel, but as a space of alchemy, where energy bursts forth, uncontrollable, and life is quite literally burned into clay.

The painting is layered with texture and weight—ash, earth, pigment—evoking the moment where matter begins to shift, to fuse, to become something new. Colour is caught in flux: darkened, scorched, and glowing at once. Kama is about that liminal state—between destruction and creation, energy and stillness—where the essence of something ancient is formed in fire.

Raw pigments, graphie, oil paint and gesso on board in handpainted antique frame.
70 x 98 cm ( Framed 92 x 118 cm )

Oil, raw pigment and gesso on board in hand-painted antique frame.

Kama

Sagrada Familia is inspired by my recent visit to Seville during &quot;Semana Santa&quot; or Holy Week: the soul, the passion and the energy of the city; the atmosphere manifested from the deeply ingrained spiritual culture of worship; the timeless beauty that is an amalgamation of the most noble and magnificent elements from Roman to Renaissance. 

The paired back nature of this work harks towards the resplendent chiaroscuro and luminous qualities of the work of one of Seville&#39;s lustrous artists - Baroque painter &#39;Murillo&#39; who captured the soul and life of the place and the people.
Magnolia flowers and papaver poppies cascade from the Heavens.

Oil, raw pigment and gesso on board in antique frame
68 cm w x 110 cm h unframed
114 cm w x 136 cm h x 8.5 cm d framed

Sagrada Familia

The House of the Golden Bracelet in Pompeii holds one of the most enchantingly beautiful garden frescos. It&#39;s terraces are pre-Roman and mytholigical frescos depict abundant views of gardens and reproductions of original Greek works of the 4th Century. I imagine the place to feel timeless, a marriage of myth and nature. A mysterious and immersive garden, silouettes and shapes surrounding the viewer.

163.5 w x 78 h cm (Framed 186 w x 100 h cm)
Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique frame.

House Of The Golden Bracelet

Rha is a meditation on place—its textures, its history, its quiet rhythms. At its heart is a bundle of Yorkshire rhubarb, known for its vivid pink stalks and cultivated in candlelit forcing sheds, a tradition unique to this part of England. The rhubarb rests in a deep, darkly glazed English earthenware bowl, its surface catching a wash of sky-reflected blue—an accidental but poignant connection between earth and air.

Alongside it lies a pale, almost spectral pomegranate, a fruit long associated with myth and memory. A pair of curling scissors and a worn tar pan complete the arrangement—humble, almost forgotten tools with a kind of archival presence. Rha speaks to rootedness and time, to the way objects carry traces of their landscapes, and how domestic fragments can echo larger histories. It’s a painting about cultivation, about the alchemy of growth, and about the way we quietly inherit and observe the places we live.

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.
119 x 74 cm

I am inspired by the idea of the immersive Roman garden, many Roman households housed paintings that developed on the notion of the Roman garden within a domestic home. Walls were adorned with surprising frescos of flora and fauna in many varying seasonal phases to become lasting places of joy. Truly bringing the feeling of celebrating life and nature within an interior, bringing the outside in.
The rooms of many of the Roman Empire garden paintings, particularly including the &#39;Villa Livia&#39;; are renowned for their accurate depiction of plant species with an illusionistic quality of perfect order. The atmospheric vista seems to reach way beyond - hence &#39;Semper Hortus&#39;, the &#39;forever garden&#39;. Painting directly from my own garden, lemon and orange trees silhouette amongst olive trees, grape vines, figs and hydrangea - illuminated by heavenly blue skies.

198 w x 122 h (Framed 238 w x 161 h cm)
Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in an English George III frame originally housing a portrait by George Romney RCA.

Semper Hortus

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

34.5 x 42.5cm (54 x 62cm Framed)

Srulu

Ad Lucem means &#39;bring to light&#39; in Latin. A new period of learning and discovering, of bringing to light. Simple objects in the studio: the pewter spoon, the tiny wooden chair and pewter plate; my Biot or Frejus jar covered in bright ochre lichens - all illuminating in the light from the dark studio floor. The plate and spoon as an offering.

Oil, raw pigment, powdered mica and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 133 w x 109 h cm (117 x 94 cm aperture)

Ad Lucem

A small carved wooden Welsh spoon rack with it&#39;s collection of wooden Cawl spoons is glimpsed in a pool of winters light from the small rustic window.

The Welsh &#39;Lovespoon&#39; dates back to the ledgend of St Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of lovers who founded a convent at Llanddwyn off the west coast of Anglesey. A place of pigrimage since her death in 465 AD. St Dwynwen&#39;s Day is celebrated on the 25th January by young suitors traditionally giving their beloved a token of their affections, a lovespoon. 

This work was created in the winter to spring months, it is part of a series of pieces which hold the same quality and was inspired by my move to the countryside and the new found feeling of calm and contemplation. I love my new old home - there is a wonderful constant feeling of ancient past times and lives, the sense of this place filters into the paintings.

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame
41 cm w x 60 cm h unframed
50 cm w x 70 cm h framed

Llwy Garu (Welsh Love Spoon)

Study for &quot;Sagrada Familia&quot; capturing the energy of growth.

Oil, Indian ink and mixed media on antique Japanese parchment paper
79 x 79 cm

Sagrada Familia - Study I

&#39;Hydria&#39; was the Greek name given to a type of water-carrying vessel. It also held oil and the votes of judges. Of course water is essential to life, as the egg symbolises new beginnings, or in fact the beginning of life.

65 w x 48 h cm (80.5 x 62 cm Framed)

Oil and venetian red gesso ground on board in antique frame.

Hydria

A pewter charger is set on a long ancient oak table in Gwydir Castle. Shafts of pale blue and golden light dance across it&#39;s surface. It speaks of ancient times, times past and lives shared. I visited Gwydir just after my previous exhibition in Autumn last year. The plate reminds me of my pewter plates in my studio. The object is caught still and expectant in the thin winter light. Impressive in its austere simplicity.

Gwydir Castle is situated in the Conwy Valley, Wales near Llanrwst. It is a fortified manor house dating back to c.1500, a wonderfully atmospheric place with an incredible history.

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame
58.8 cm w x 45 cm h unframed
76 cm w x 64 cm h framed

Collecting Light At Gwydir

The pale faces of spring, the feeling of rebirth. Magnolia and papaver poppies unfurl to reveal their delicate luminous and architectural petals.

Selene is the Greek Goddess of the Moon. In Greek mythology she can be found depicted in scenes with her beloved - Endymion, the shepherd - a beautiful man who is granted eternal youth and eternal sleep with sleep-inducing poppies. The myth of Selene and Endymion is one of fulfillment through unending sleep and yet Selene gives allusions to the changeless cycle of nature. 

Soluble Aquarelle pencil and Artgraf pastel on Fabriano paper
69 cm h x 49 cm w unframed
85 cm h x 65 cm w framed

Selene

A group of once-rare and precious lemons glimpse from the shadows at the foot of the huge lichen covered French earthernware Frejús jar. They are almost salt encrusted, they emerge as a precious object revealed hiding in dunes of sand.

60 x 51 cm ( Framed 88 x 78 cm )

Oil, graphite and gesso on board in antique frame.

De Citreo

&quot;But like love
the archers
are blind

Upon the green night,
the piercing saetas
leave traces of warm
lily.

The keel of the moon
breaks through purple clouds
and their quivers
fill with dew.

Ay, but like love
the archers
are blind!&quot;

- Before The Dawn - Federico Garcia Lorca

53 w x 42 h cm (Framed 71 w x 60 h cm)

Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique gilded French Rococo Revival Frame c.1860

Before The Dawn - Lorca

Study for &quot;Sagrada Familia&quot; capturing the chiarascuro quaity of blooms in the shadows.

Oil, Indian ink and mixed media on antique Japanese parchment paper
79 x 79 cm

Sagrada Familia - Study II

Inspired by the &#39;Hare with Grapes&#39; painting of Pompeii. Grapes were central to the Roman diet, and of course their worship of Bacchus the God of Wine. Often featured in fresco, coins or relief. They are symbols of Classical Antiquity.
The pomegranate was considered an atribue of Venus, who was orignally the goddess of agriculture. They make an appearance in many fresco paintings as well as literature such as that of Ovid the Roman poet.
For me these fruits are truly symbolic, and seen here placed within a kind of lararium or shrine of the home as offerings to the Gods.

57.5 w x 47.5 h cm (Framed 71 w x 61 h cm)
Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique frame.

Ab Ovo Usque Ad Mala - From Beginning To End

Many Roman garden-scene frescos depict a small fountain amongst the abundant foliage of their dream gardens.
I&#39;m enchanted by the Roman&#39;s ability to bring the sound of water to their homes, irrigated by the mighty Aqua Augustus aqueduct: the smallest fountains with the cooling harmony of running water, concealing conversations and blocking the humdrum everyday of the outside world.

64.5 w x 78 h cm (Framed 84 w x 97 h cm)
Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique frame with classical motif decoration.

House Of The Small Fountain

The European grapevine has been used as a symbol since ancient times. In Greek mythology, Dionysus or the Roman &#39;Bacchus&#39; was the god of the vintage, therefore bunches of the fruit were among his attributes. Throughout history wine has been drunk as a libation to the god, as a symbol of Jesus Christ.

The grapes and pomegranate placed on a Georgian pewter plate upon a medieval trivet become part of a vanitas celebrating beauty and life.

80 w x 57 h cm (Framed size 104.5 w x 82 h cm)

Oil, raw pigment and gesso on board in antique frame from The Palace of Versailles.

Vitis Vinifera

The radiance of luminous cloud which surrounds the sunflower.

Oil, raw pigment, encaustic wax and gesso on board in antique frame.

108 w x 150 h cm (Framed 119 w x 156.5 h cm)

Halos

The giant over-painted and waxed medieval monastery offering bowl. It sings of centuries of sanctity, sharing, of care, contemplation and faith. There is a feeling of constant but nothing is taken for granted.
What is consistent is the light. The echo of dappled sunlight moves across the surfaces of the bowl - optimistic and pure. The simple unobtrusive bowl is full of humility and yet it is also most sacred and full of grace.

76.5 w x 66 h cm (Framed size 96 w x 86 h cm)

Encaustic wax, raw pigment and oil paint in antique frame from The Palace of Versailles.

Monastic Bowl

Cera meaning &#39;wax&#39; in latin.

The wax surfaced medieval Spanish huge scale offering bowl tells a tale. It has been overpainted, stapled and re-waxed and glazed throughout its lifetime. Rumour has it that whenever there was an illness within the monastery, because the bowl was so revered and such an essential part of every day (being the main bowl on the communal table), it was thrown into the nearby river until washed clean by the currents - each time rescued and mended and brought back into the monastic space.

Cera is full of changing light, of history and energy.

76 w x 66 h cm (Framed size 96 w x 85 h cm)

Oil, raw pigment and encaustic wax on board in antique frame from The Palace of Versailles.

Cera

Glass vase with pomegranate fruit inspired by the glass jar with fruit fresco at Oplontis within the Villa of Poppaea, owned by the Emperor Nero. Poppaea was surrounded by extensive dignified and elegant gardens with majestic arcades. The fresco celebrates the abundance of fruits (probably grown within the gardens) and highlights the precious and sumptuous nature of the glass. Within the frescos of the Villa, realistic perspective is abandoned in favour of flatness of elongated forms which formed a kind of shrine around an often mythological central room scene.

39.5 w x 55 h cm (Framed 56 w x 71.5 h cm) 
Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in 19th Century Spanish gilt frame.

Poppaea

Still life composition or &#39;Opus&#39;. The bowl is a pottery Roman bowl, simply and freely made, feels like its barely been touched by hand. But it still remains, illuminated by light, holding precious once-rare lemons. Its existence is incredible...how it is still with us after all the time past..I think of all the shifting sands and ebbing tides.

60 x 51 cm ( Framed 88 x 78 cm )

Oil, graphite and gesso on board in antique frame.

Opus

Still life inspired by the use of fresco in the Roman Villa. Creating spaces and places within living spaces, the Romans adorned their walls with depictions of everyday food and wine; precious vessels and objects from daily-life; self-portraits alongside images of the Gods and Godesses they worshiped.
The heavy impasto surface of the painting here has a chalky ceramic-like quality. A small glass blue-green silica wine jug poised alongside a perfect leafy lemon. The lemon was a prized fruit in ancient Rome, it symbolised the status of the home. The Romans worshiped Bacchus the God of wine and all of his unrestrained revelry, ecstasy and creativity.

46 w x 34 h cm (Framed 65 w x 53 h cm)
Oil , mixed media and gesso in antique frame

Verre De Fougére

A marriage between two vessels. Pale white faience French ceramics, once housing mythical elements of an 18th century chemist&#39;s ingredients which were redolent with occult associations and mystical tradition. The colourful names given by chemists to describe their concoctions often had little link to the actual substrates housed, but conjured the idea of the power of the ingredients.

31.5 w x 43.5 h cm (Framed 45.5 w x 57.5 h cm)
Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique frame.

Apotheca

I came across a sunflower field in a most unexpected place, just after lockdown on an unexpected day of escape from what had become the norm. The sunflower field epitomised life at every stage. Indeed, the species name annus referes to the plant&#39;s annual life cycle. &#39;Gaudium Vitae&#39; translates from latin as &#39;the joy of life&#39;.
I wanted the paintings to be explosions of light, shape and colour. Like fireworks - celebrating - or deep space star constellations - places of creation.

80.5 w x 106 h cm (Framed 123 w x 146.5 h cm)
Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in dramatic 18th Century Italian gilded antique frame with perfect patination

Gaudium Vitae - Joy of Life

58 w x 42.5 h cm (Framed 75 w x 59.5 h cm)

Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique French Composition Bourbon Restoration Scotia Frame c.1850

Ceruleum Cosmos

&#39;Oleum Setis&#39; - Oil and Brush in Latin. 
The amphora shape is an ancient storage jar used to carry oil at sea. These beautiful ovid shapes carrying precious materials across vast oceans...

Framed 74 w x 64 h cm (61 x 51.5cm aperture)
Raw pigment, oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Oleum Setis

The Hortus was the name given to the central garden within a Roman home. A place to enjoy the notion of &#39;Otium&#39;! A latin abstract term with a number of meanings, including: time at home, resting, contemplation and academic endeavours. It can have intellectual and virtuous implications. Activities that were considered in the Roman world, to be artistically valuable...and above all enlightening!

44 w x 35.5 h cm (58 x 49 cm Framed)
Oil and encaustic wax on board in antique frame.

Otium

From latin aurea *&quot;golden&quot; referencing the disk of light surrounding the heads of sacred figures. The sunflowers remind me of this light, their radiant crowns and faces turning to follow the sun.*

Oil, raw pigment, encaustic wax and gesso on board in hand-painted antique frame.

105.5 w x 75.5 h cm (Framed 124 w x 94 h cm)

Aurea

My friends have found leafy lemons for me this Summer. They call out in their celebration of warmer climes. They are, heat, sun, happiness and joy! In my simple medieval pewter bowl in this contemplative space they feel emblematic.

61.5 w x 41.5 h cm (Framed size 75 w x 63 h cm)

Raw pigment, oil paint and encaustic wax on board in antique frame.

Sunlight and Shadows

Oil, mixed media and gesso on board.
Unframed size 163 cm w x 77 cm h. Framed size 180 cm w x 94 cm h.

I'r Môr (To The Sea)

Tranquietas is Latin for peacefullness. It means to pause, relax and think. My antique paint brushes pause on the pewter dish in my studio - the tool behind ideas, a tension before I paint or perhaps the peacefullness of when I am still.

Oil and gesso on board in hand painted antique frame.

Framed 67 w x 56.5 h cm (52 x 43 cm aperture)

Tranquietas

Oil, raw pigment, graphite and gesso on board.
Unframed size 90 cm w x 72 cm h. Framed size 103 cm w x 85 cm h.

Halen Môr (Sea Salt)

Oil and gesso on board.
Unframed size 51 cm w x 39 cm h. Framed size 61 cm w x 48 cm h.

Seler Halen (Salt Cellar)

On a ’Pompeii Red’ Natural pigment ‘fresco’ surface, ‘Lararium’ is a luminous, delicate and offering painting. Based around the notion of the Roman Lararium or the shrine in the centre of the home. A shrine to the guardian spirits of the Roman household. Family members performed daily rituals at this shrine to guarantee the protection of these domestic spirits, the most significant of which were the lares.

Oil, raw pigment and gesso on board in antique frame.

52 w x 44 h cm (Framed size)

Lararium 

Horis Diei—Latin for “daylight hours”—is a celebration of the high summer garden, a moment suspended in warmth, colour, and movement. Painted from life, this piece draws on the energy of heliantus and rudbeckia, among other flowers growing freely in my garden. Their vivid, sun-soaked blooms embody the very essence of summer: brightness, abundance, and impermanence.

The Latin title connects not only to the sun-following nature of these plants—Heliantus, from helios, meaning “sun”—but also to a deeper reflection on time. These are the flowers of the longest days, flourishing during the most generous hours of light. In Horis Diei, I wanted to capture the vitality of that fleeting window, when life is at its fullest, and light stretches endlessly across the hours. The brushwork is gestural and layered, allowing each bloom to feel as if it’s caught in motion, responding to breeze and brilliance alike.

Mixed media and oil on board

80.5 cm w x 106 cm h Unframed size.

Horis Diei - Daylight Hours

The last vestiges of Summer evident in the sculptural organic seed heads of Sunflowers from my winter garden held in Medieval Seidberg jugs &#39;capturing light&#39;.

Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique frame
46 cm w x 65 cm h unframed
60 cm w x 78 cm framed

Clytie

Oil, raw pigment and gesso on board.
Unframed size 51 cm w x 39 cm h. Framed size 61 cm w x 48 cm h.

Our History (Ein Hanes)

&#39;Alba&#39; a Latin word for &#39;white, clear, bright&#39;. Its&#39; connotations of the dawn as the sunrise begins with bright clear light. Alba illuminates.

35.5 x 26 cm ( Framed 47 x 37.5 cm )

Oil, graphite and gesso on board in antique frame.

Alba

A stack of medieval bowls and storage jar in my studio. Once used for transporting across the seas and to hold oils or pigments from far away places. Their surfaces are worn as if eroded by the sea. Their potters slips and glazes so natural like the shifting sands, their usage perfectly every day.

Kabir (c. 1440-1518) wrote, in The Clay Jug:

<blockquote>
Inside this clay jug are canyons and pine mountains
And the maker of canyons and pine mountains
All seven oceans are inside, and hundreds of millions of stars
The acid that tests gold is there and the one that judges jewels
And the music from the strings that no one touches,
and the source of all water
If you want the truth, I will tell you the truth:
Friend, listen....
The God whom I love is inside
</blockquote>

92 x 61 cm ( Framed 117 x 89.5 cm )
Oil, raw pigment and gesso on board in antique frame.

Of Purity and Purpose

Oil and gesso on board.
Unframed size 51 cm w x 40 cm h. Framed size 64 cm w x 54 cm h.

Seed of Winter (Had Y Gaeaf)

Persephone is the Greek Goddess of Spring. This still life of the pewter bowl, pomegranates and the budding Winter&#39;s branch. The pomegranates seeds awaiting the renewing warmth of Spring and Summer.

61 x 51 cm (Framed 75 x 65cm)

Oil and gesso on board in hand-painted antique frame.

Persephone

Moments of fleeting beauty are captured and mirrored - the tension between glimpses of pure joy in the every day revered. The arrival of Spring is signalled by the blousy peony flowers, abundant and expressive, their faces tilting to the stars. 
They feel expansive, incandescent like a new constellation in the nights sky or transported by a twighlight tide.

Mixed media and oil on Arches Oil Paper Glazed in Antique Frame

95 cm w 65 cm h Unframed - (Framed size TBC)

As the Peony Flowers Bloom, the Tide Carries The Stars

The great magnolia signalling the first signs of Winter turning to Spring. In my February visit to Cornwall, the peninsular is a month ahead..great beautiful pink and white noble blooms are the gentle awakening of Spring.

115 x 70.5 cm ( Framed 136 x 90.5 c

Oil, graphite and gesso on board in antique frame.

Grandiflora

Stars of magnolia in the dusky light, signalling the beginning of spring against brooding atmospheric grey-white skies.

69 x 59 cm ( Framed 93 x 82 cm )

Oil, graphite and gesso on board in antique frame.

Spring's Bloom

The fleeting beauty of magnolia buds bursting into bloom change as life also begins to bloom again and the days get longer and the seasons change. The magnolias short but glorious life, like Japanese &#39;Sakura&#39; blossom, speak of the impermanence of time and ground us in pure enjoyment of this moment.

47 x 67 cm ( Framed 66 x 86 cm )

Oil, graphite and gesso on board in antique frame.

Winter's Spring

Dusk falls and highlights the outline of architectural agapanthus flower heads; bold brilliant Echinacea; soft vibrations of cornflower blue Scabiosa and Delphinium; and starry white Aster luminous against a pale viridian sky. The night time garden draws on.

Named after Titus Livius who was known as one of Rome&#39;s distinguished historians, he was known as &#39;the man from Pompeii&#39; and the tones of this painting bear semblance to the classic greens found in the frescoes of Pompeii.

71.5 w x 48 h cm (Framed size 89w x 66 h cm)

Raw pigment, oil paint with encaustic damar and beeswax wax on board in an antique frame.

Livius

Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique window-shaped frame.
Unframed size 46 cm w x 65 cm h. Framed size 56 cm w x 75 cm h.

Môr A Thir (Sea and Land)

Nasturtiums were brought back to Spain in the 1500s after the Spanish conquests! Their trumpet shaped flowers signal the change of Spring to Summer. Their red, orange and yellow flowers are full of heat and energy - passion like Spain! They remind me of these warmer climes, dreams of places I&#39;ve visited and wish with all my heart to return to!

59.4 w x 42 h cm

Water-soluble pastel on Khadi paper

Las Flores De La Espana

An abundant celebration of Summer! My terrace full of nasturtiums, their yellow flowers heralding the change in seasons, their shape like the trumpets of Angels! We are being visited by butterflies and bees enjoying the flowers&#39; sweet nectar. They bring joy, energy and creativity. This drawing is the first in a series of direct observational pieces based solely on the nasturtiums. The marks and feeling are immediate, strong and vital like the flower.

59.4 w x 42 h cm

Water-soluble pastel on Khadi paper

Angel's Trumpets

Chloris was &#39;the Greek Goddess of Spring&#39;. The undulating tangle of Nasturtium flowers are both delicate and gravity defying in their presence. Chloris represents a celebration of Spring, of flowers and new growth. These flowers feel like the essence of this.

&quot;As she talks, her lips breathe spring roses: I was Chloris, who am now called Flora.&quot; - Ovid

59.4 w x 42 h cm

Water-soluble pastel on Khadi paper

Chloris

Oil, raw pigment and encaustic wax on board in antique frame.

60 w x 38.5 h cm (Framed 83 w x 62 h cm

Astra

A gift of the first flourish of Summers sunflowers.

Oil, raw pigment and encaustic wax on board in antique hand-painted frame.

54.5 w x 46 h cm (Framed 70 w x 60.5 h cm)

Helianthus

46 h x 31 w cm (Framed 61 h x 45.5 w cm)

Rushlight

Shared ritual of the Japanese tea ceremony. This little solitary Tea Bowl created by Master potter Shoji Hamada speaks so much in its quietness and simplicity. The light in my studio flows around and illuminates this very special tiny sacred object.

34 x 28 cm ( Framed 50 x 43 cm )

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Shared

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

47 h x 57 w cm (Framed 60 h x 69 w cm)

By Candlelight

The great Frejús earthenware ceramic jar, its surface encrusted with pale yellow to ochre lichens like the rooftops of St Ives. It emerges into light from the shadows.
&#39;Shoji&#39; (not only relating to the art of Shoji Hamada) but meaning &#39;screen&#39;, it is the sliding paper partition screen. In his book on aesthetics, In Praise of Shadows Jun&#39;ichiro Tanizaki comments oil the role of Shoji in the interaction of light and shadows and the power of their tones reflecting on subtle nuances of life. The importance of mindfulness and noticing the small things.

79 x 98 cm ( Framed 99 x 118 cm)

Oil, raw pigment, graphite and gesso on board in antique frame.

Shoji (Shoji + Irori Diptych)

&#39;Irori&#39; is the sunken hearth in Japan used to heat the home and cook food. I imagine steam and smoke, this sacred space of fire.
Here the Frejús jar (earthenware pottery) is almost invisible, forming in the bright light like smoke signals from the stove.

76 x 97.5 cm ( Framed 96 x 118 cm)

Oil, raw pigment, graphite and gesso on board in antique frame.

Irori (Shoji + Irori Diptych)

Oyster shells and Belleek Neptune shell cup and saucer. The luminosity of the white inside the oyster shell reminds me of the brightest cloudy skies above the sea, the vibrancy of the light dancing through the fine porcelain like that of a sea worn shell fragment. &#39;Atargatis&#39; was a goddess of fertility but also the first described Mermaid goddess.

56 x 40cm (Framed 81 x 64cm)

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Atargatis

I&#39;m fascinated by the process of making the tiny Tea Bowl. Each phase has a certain synergy of energy from the shared Leach Pottery, where the potters make these simple everyday treasures, the intimacy of working with clay and allowing it to take your intuition and therefore create something so everyday and imperfect but perfect..to the final ceremony in tea. There is human connection through this special object.

43 x 31 cm ( Framed 63 x 51 cm)

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Sacred Ritual

A pewter plate full of oyster &#39;Ostrea&#39; shells. Abundance and life.

61 x 47.5cm (Framed 76 x 62cm)

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Ostrea

This giant delicate Japanese pottery storage jar would have transported precious perishables at sea. A monolithic vessel which speaks of past times.

63 x 137 cm ( Framed 92.5 x 166 cm )

Oil, raw pigment, charcoal and gesso on board in antique frame.

The Fullness of Emptiness

54 x 44.5cm (Framed 71.5 x 61.5cm)

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Aphrodite

Frejus is the name given to huge storage pots from a specific region of France. This huge lichen covered storage jar holds promise - from the precious oils and goods it once contained, echoing stories of trade and cultures connecting. It is now quiet and contemplative but is a key to our past. Frejus is full of light.

Raw pigment, oil, charcoal and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 92w x 103.5h cm (70 x 83cm aperture)

Fréjus

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 55.5 w x 36.5 h cm (38 x 19 cm aperture)

Fallen Fruit

Ollam Latin for Pot. This huge lichen covered storage jar holds promise - from the precious oils and goods it once contained, echoing stories of trade and cultures connecting. It is now quiet and contemplative but its silence and pause sings with voices from the past. Ollam and the keys are emerging from the its sintered bronze grey darkness, illuminating with glances of light.

Raw pigment, oil, sintered bronze powder and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 89 w x 103.5 h cm (62.5 x 78cm aperture)

Ollam

&#39;Umbra&#39; means dusk in Latin. I draw in graphite powder - my umbra. What remains is a fleeting impression of the present moment. A celebratory collective image of my everyday objects that bring me happiness: my paint pots holding brushes, my brushes laid out. A pewter plate and spoon could be waiting to be painted or perhaps for my lunch! The precious mussel shell that was snuck into my hand bag by my partner Chris to remind me of our day at the beach.

Graphite, oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 111 w x 75 h cm (95 x 59 cm aperture)

Umbra

&#39;Olei Simpuvium&#39; Oil and ladle in Latin. The Spanish small ovid storage jar transported oil. Its exterior was once accidentally splattered in green oily glaze (perhaps in a Triana Seville workshop)..its a complete one-off a rare-happening, and has survived all this time...here honoured by emerging from the shadows waiting to pour oil into the ladle, unlocked history suggested by the hanging rusty keys.

Raw pigment, charcoal, oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 71 w x 50.5 h cm (61.5 x 40.5 cm aperture)

Olei Simpuvium

Oil, raw pigment and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 51 w x 61 h cm (37 x 47 cm aperture)

Maeth

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 74.5 x 58cm

Loved 

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 96 x 66cm

Acquasantiera

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 66 x 57cm

Preservation 

&quot;Selkie&quot; comes from the mythology of the mermaid - a creature that lives as seals in the sea and shed their skin to become human. The giant fronts of seaweed remind me of these transformative creatures, beautiful glossy skins lying in the shallow turquoise and purple sea anenome filled rock pools.

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame. Work at <a href="https://chrisholmesantiques.co.uk/products/chloe-holt-rca-frsa-selkie">Chris Holmes Antiques</a>.

74 x 102 cm (framed 90 x 117cm)

Selkie

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.
The coolness of the Spring breeze and the glow of the warming sun. &#39;Olwen&#39; is a celebration of spring - known as one of the Spring Goddesses, wherever Olwen trod pure white clovers sprung from the ground. Work at <a href="https://chrisholmesantiques.co.uk/products/chloe-holt-rca-frsa-olwen">Chris Holmes Antiques</a>.
125.5 x 65.5cm (Framed 107 x 86cm)

Olwen

Oil and gesso on board in handpainted antique frame.
Freya was the Norse goddess of love and fertility and mythological wife of Odin in Scandinavian mythology. This powerful impressionistic painting is full of power and surface, thick lacerated textures and depth. Observing the arrival of Spring with white amaryllis in bud, lilac and roses. Work at <a href="https://chrisholmesantiques.co.uk/products/chloe-holt-rca-frsa-freya">Chris Holmes Antiques</a>.
88 x 66.5cm (Framed 107 x 86cm)

Freya

Ashes

Awaken

Oil, mixed media and gesso on board.
Unframed size 91.5 cm w x 61.5 cm h. Framed size 104 cm w x 74 cm h.

Storm Eira (Snow Storm)

Oil, graphite, raw pigment and gesso on board
Unframed size 53.5 cm w x 66 cm h. Framed size 66 cm w x 80 cm h.

Across The Sea To Snowdon (From Ynys Llanddwyn)

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 102 w x 81.5 h cm (85 x 64 cm aperture)

Elucido

The Waterlily eaters &quot;Lotos&quot; a tension, a tangle of colours and masses and fluidity in the depths of the lake.
74 x 115 cm Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Lotos

22 x 19 cm unframed (Framed 29 x 26 cm)

Oil and gesso on board.

Livia

Honesty

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 88 w x 78 h cm (67 x 56.5 cm aperture)

Orvieto Limone

81 w x 69 h cm (Framed 98.5 w x 86 h cm)

Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique gilded frame c.1840

Aestas Sole - Summer Sunshine

The last moments of Summer, as the bright shining face of Rudbeckia remains long into the first glimmers of Autumn. The skies move swiftly with wispy clouds, the afternoon light takes on a violet blue. The seed heads decorate the garden with their graphic forms for Winter.

Oil and gesso on board. 
19 cm w x 15 cm h unframed size.

Seed Heads In Autumn Light

The change from Summer to Autumn brings a new luminous delicate blue-violet light. If you glance out from your windows you will see that the light is completely saturated with this colour - it creates halos around objects. The last of the Summer flowers dance in their new dream.

Oil and gesso on board. 
19 cm w x 22 cm h unframed size.

Sun In The Sky

A small ceramic greek jar takes the stage within the garden still-life. The pewter plate is filled with black grapes and the branches of a purple Cherry tree laden with fruit drape across the ground of the painting. The Romans were known to depict Greek artifacts and reproduction of Greek fresco within their own frescos. Imbued with symbolism and illuminated with bright light.

60 w x 45 h cm (Framed 86.5 w x 71.5 h cm)
Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in Italian antique frame.

Still Life With Cherries

Oil, graphite and gesso on board in antique frame.

82.5 w x 77 h cm (Framed 89.5 w x 84 h cm)

Exhibitions

'For There She Was' at David Simon Contemporary

Chris Holmes Antiques & Art

Gallerina

Ffin Y Parc Gallery

David Simon Contemporary

RCA - Royal Cambrian Academy

New Craftsman Gallery