“In Full Bloom” at David Simon Contemporary
Following the ROSA Botanical Art Fair at West Dean, a selection of my paintings will continue with David Simon Contemporary as part of the exhibition In Full Bloom.
The works shown explore flowers not as botanical studies, but as shifting forms held between emergence and dissolution — petals opening into gesture, light moving across layered surfaces, gold appearing and retreating through the painting itself. Drawn from my garden and the changing rhythm of the seasons, these paintings sit between stillness and movement, structure and release.
The exhibition brings together a group of contemporary artists whose works respond to the natural world in distinct and individual ways.
David Simon Contemporary 37 High Street Castle Cary Somerset BA7 7AW
Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm
Foxgloves and lilies gathered into a shared field of light, their forms hovering between emergence and retreat. The painting holds a quiet tension between fragility and strength, where vertical stems and open blooms seem briefly sustained before they pass.
Oil, walnut ink, metallic gold and mixed media with gesso on board in Antique darkened gilded frame 107 w x 94.5 h cm Framed 84 w x 72 h cm Unframed
Foxglove forms open and unfold across the surface, their structure loosened as light moves through leaves and petals. Ruptura speaks of parting rather than breaking — an opening that allows warmth and gold to surface, holding growth in motion like a woven field of light, foliage illuminated with gold.
Oil, walnut ink, metallic gold and mixed media with gesso on board in Antique darkened gilded frame 107 w x 94.5 h cm Framed 84 w x 72 h cm Unframed
The dahlia no longer gathers or lifts, but breaks free entirely, dissolving into a surge of colour, gesture, and force. Form is abandoned in favour of sensation: petals smear, collide, and disappear into the act of painting itself. What remains is not a still life but an experience — a moment of rapture where abundance overwhelms structure, and joy asserts itself without restraint.
Oil, walnut ink and metallic acrylic with gesso on canvas in blackened antique frame 76.5 w x 61 h cm Unframed 94 w x 82 h cm Framed
Vines and dark grapes rest in shadow as light slips across their surfaces. Gold emerges softly, not to dominate but to reveal, allowing the abundance of the vine to surface slowly, with reverence and restraint.
Oil, walnut ink and metallic paint with gesso on board in antique frame 69 w x 59 h cm Framed 50.5 w x 40 h cm Unframed