Alcazár

In the grand tradition of bringing citrus specimens from distant lands, I returned home with a remarkable fruit from the royal palace of Real Alcázares de Seville: a perfect 'Citrus Limon Osbeck' lemon from their historic citrus collection.

Dating back to the sixteenth century, the gardens of the Real Alcázares boasted both sweet and bitter lemon trees, particularly in the Garden of Cidral. The 1669 Chronicles of Cosimo de' Medici, recounting his travels around Spain and Portugal, mention the Tuscan Prince's admiration for these gardens. He marveled at the lemon trees in full bloom in December, calling it a great wonder.

The citrus collections were revered throughout history. The lemons embody the spirit and history of the gardens of Paradise in Seville, and dreams of warmer climes.

Oil, mixed media and gesso on board in antique frame. Framed size 40cm w x 35cm h Unframed size 28cm w x 22cm h

Limón Del Reales Alcázares De Sevilla

In the great tradition of bringing citrus specimens from far flung climes I returned home with a windfall fruit from the royal palace of Real Alcázares De Seville. A perfect 'Citrus Limon Osbeck' Lemon from the great citrus collection.

In the sixteenth century there were sweet and bitter lemon trees in the gardens of the Real Alcázares, planted in the Garden of Cidral. In the 1669 Chronicles of Cosimo de Medicis around Spain and Portugal,the Tuscan prince narrates that he stopped to admire the vegetation: the great wonder of these gardens was however for us to find lemon trees covered with flowers in December... The citrus collections were so revered - it is known that The architect Vermondo Resta, who conducted much of the reform of the gardens in the early seventeenth century, was given everyday oranges and lemons and seasonal flowers from the gardens of Alcázar. These were some of the grants enjoyed by the architect as the greatest master of Seville’s palace. True treasure from the gardens of Paradise in Seville!

Oil, acrylic and gesso on board in antique frame 41 cm w x 32.5 cm h unframed 54 cm w x 46 cm h framed

Asaroton (Unswept Floor)

The ground beneath my feet in much of Seville was strewn with fallen fruits, orange blossoms and leaves. Their image reminded me of the Roman mosaics or "Asaroton" deriving from a type known as 'the unswept floor' introduced by Sosus of Pergamum (c.150-100BC). The mosaics resemble a floor that has been covered in food after a banquet or a celebration; you can see fruit, figs, lobster claws, sea urchins and even a tiny mouse in the 'Asarotos oikos' mosaic which is housed in the Vatican. The objects are illuminated by multi-directional pools of light from imaginary candles giving the illusion of a real life scene which must have amused the Romans very much!

My floor has traces of red spilt across its surface. During the Semana Santa week processions of 'Brotherhoods' move slowly down the orange tree lined streets, the air was thick with the heady scent of orange blossom (azahres) mixed with clouds frankincense incense and candle wax from the huge 'Cirios' altar candles which are carried dispersing in their wake.
Late at night and early in the morning, before the City's streets are washed clean, the grey granite floors are coated in red wax from the processions and the oranges and their leaves scattered. An exhilarating experience leaving a lasting impression.

Oil, Indian ink and gesso on board in antique frame 73 cm w x 53 cm h unframed 89 cm w x 71 cm h framed

Miracle - After Murillo's Iconography of the Porciuncula

Fleetingly delicate papery blooms of papaver poppies swirl in contrast between light and dark in the heat of the Sevillian courtyard. Shadows of date palms and other botanics collected over centuries from far flung climes intertwine in a cacophony of beautiful movement and energy.

These blooms, even at the peak of their pomp and power cannot help but signal their decline. Their purpose is to attract, their destiny to decay. So here is work which is both articulate and instinctive, illuminating even when it is darkling…

The work is inspired by the resplendent chiaroscuro and luminous qualities of the work of one of Seville’s lustrous Baroque artists ‘Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’, best known for his religious works but also capturing the soul and life of the place and people. in In particular after “Iconography of Porciúncula” - the miracle of celestial falling flowers from the heavens.

Oil and mixed media on Arches Oil Paper 130 w x 80 h cm unframed 145 w x 95 h cm framed

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Casa De Los Pinelo

Part of the "Seville Triptych" 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 'Citrus Aurantium L.' 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 'golden' 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 'Monstera deliciosa Liebm.' 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'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

Cochineal Red Wisteria

From the series "Seville Triptych" 'Cochineal Red Wisteria'. 'Jasminum officinale L. (Common Jasmine) and 'Wisteria sinensis Sweet' (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

El Invierno

Citrus Aurantium otherwise known as the Bittler orange/Seville orange sits next to a Lambis Lambis conch shell on top of a cabinet for curiosites.

The orange tree has more presence than any other tree in Seville, associated with paradise in many different cultures. The Greeks and Romans spoke of the golden apples or 'auratium' that Hercules stole from the garden of Hesperides. The Arabs introduced them for ornamental value and the heady scent of the orange blossom flowers. I am transfixed by the idea and reality of the composition of Muslim King's courtyards which were planted in four corners by sunken flower beds containing the trees, so that when passing on high platforms on the first floor they could smell the wonderful scent and pick the fruits.

The fruit is particularly associated with Winter, when pefectly ripe.
Francisco Barrera depicts the orange in his baroque painting 'El Invierno', now housed in the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla.

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame 21 w x 21 h cm unframed (35 w x 35 h cm framed)

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El Refectorio

A pair of Medieval Siegberg earthernware pottery jug from my collection with pomegranate. Created from hard, nonporous ceramic which is both strong and impervious to liquids, the hand thrown shape was ideally suited for domestic purposes. A banal object with a vital importance to everyday life.

This work was created in the winter to spring months, many of the pieces painted in this period are inspired by my move to an old house in the countryside and a new feeling of calm and contemplation. The works have historic sentiment as the land and place surrounding me holds too. Here at Cayton, I'm surrounded by an ancient Medieval site, nearby there are the remnants of fish pools which used to serve the Cistercian Fountains Abbey. The lakes used to house one of the largest potteries where earthernware was made and fired on wooden jettys extending the waters edge. The sense of this place transmutes into the paintings, my medieval ceramic collection holds even more significance.

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame 41 cm w x 51 cm h unframed 57 cm w x 68 cm h framed

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El Higo

A tiny perfect fig in dappled Winter light viewed through a foraged collection of thorny branches and bright red berries.

Abundant in the gardens of the Alcazar on my visit to Seville earlier this year - One of the oldest fruit trees, the fig was cultivated in the Middle East: an Egyptian painting over 4500 features the fruits. During the Andalusian era, they grew abundantly in the scholar Ibn al-'Awwam's experimentation garden around 1200 AD.

The symbolism of the fig runs deep through history: Adam and Eve covered themselves in fig leaves after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge in Genesis. Romulus and Remus's basket miraculously stopped under a wild fig when they were abandoned on the Tiber.

Oil and gesso on board in antique and modern frame 12.5 w x 15 h cm unframed (24 w x 26.5 h cm framed)

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Granada Bowl

Contemplative still life with 18th Century Granada bowl, pomegranates, dried seed heads, thistles and branches.

The name of the pomegranate species, granatum derives from the Latin meaning 'abundant grains'. It is an ancient species, grenades have been found in Egyptian tombs, linked with the idea of ressurection. During the middle ages because of this myth, it became the symbol of ressurection in the hand of the Child Jesus. It expresses the concept of unity within diversity, uniting people and cultures.
In Islam the pomegranate is a sacred tree. In the Koran it is one of the conserved species in the the promised blessed shady gardens of Paradise. Indeed, the City of Grandada, where the Andalusians lived until 1492 bears the name of the fruit.

Granada is famed for it's ceramic production, The production of such beautiful glazed terracotta ‘Lebrillo’ bowls known as Fajalauza, date back to early 16th Century Granada, and were created particularly in the Albayzín, a district of Granada. These traditional and humble banal forms have become an emblem of the city. Created for domestic use, they are a simple non-noble objects connected to everyday life and were a recognised part of all Granada households, each home owning one or more depending on its’ size.

Mixed media and oil on paper in glazed modern slim gold frame 70 w x 50 h cm unframed (71 w x 51 h cm framed)

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Llwy Garu (Welsh Love Spoon)

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

The Welsh 'Lovespoon' 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'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

Semper Hortus

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 'Villa Livia'; 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 'Semper Hortus', the 'forever garden'. 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.

Nubibus Solis Occasum - Sunset Clouds

Part of the series of Sunflower paintings tracking the light from dawn to dusk.

The sunflower at sunset, the heavy seeded heads of the flower illuminate and glow against their darkening foliage, a glimer of blue sky in the background.

The species name annus refers to the plant's annual life cycle. It made a lasting impression, burning imprinted shapes in my mind - not just of their shadows, light, structure and colour-But of their importance and necessity to life. I wanted the paintings to be explosions of light shape and colour. Like fireworks, or deep space star constellations. An imagined place full of light and joy.

80.5 w x 130 h cm Unframed (Framed size 93.5 w x 144 h cm Mixed media on Arches Oil Paper (Framed in modern gilded slim frame floating on mount glazed )

Solis Ortus - Sunrise

Part of the series of Sunflower paintings tracking the light from dawn to dusk. Perfect bright yellow faces raise up to the grey windy skies above, awaiting the sun to enrich their joyous blooms. Some are clenched in tight in almost-alien bud waiting to burst open when the sun arrives and gives them energy as it casts radiant glimmering light upon them. Other more matured flowers have large open petals are becoming slowly torn by the winds, but are lucid, big and beautiful nonetheless. Petals like crepe paper Matisse-like cut-outs. But after that moment which is not their end, some have reached their point of turning to seed, their dark centres become heavy monolithic, engorged with glistening seeds - a bountiful provision, a harvest for the birds.

80.5 w x 130 h cm Unframed (Framed size 93.5 w x 144 h cm Mixed media on Arches Oil Paper (Framed in modern gilded slim frame floating on mount glazed )

Materia Prima

Pompeii was the City of Eternal colours. Pigments from the depths of the Earth. Of marbles and stones, ruins and dust, terra rossa, red and yellow ochre, malachite, verdigris and azurite. The volcanic eruption of Vesuvius brought about an alchemical transformation - Pompeii's yellows were transformed to red. It was a world living and then brought back to life through colour. By 'Materia Prima'.

Materia Prima is about elements and raw material...the raw material of the world. It is the first matter in Universal terms. This painting contains almost every earth pigment in raw form.

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"Prima materia" can be compared to everything "[...]to heaven and earth, to body and spirit, chaos, microcosm, and the confused mass; it contains in itself all colours and potentially all metals; there is nothing more wonderful in the world, for it begets itself, conceives itself, and gives birth to itself" - Paul Kugler ' The Alchemy of Discourse: Image, Sound and Psyche."

96 w x 77 h cm (Framed size 111w x 92h cm)

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

Janus

This monolithic scale painting is my final painting in the "Hortulus Animae: Little Garden of the Soul" series.

It is full of dramatic skies, Summer blooms blazing and fading. There are the Sunflowers, the waves of the plants and flora within the banks of my garden. It is a time to contemplate, reconnect with nature and discover the beauty of the small things: hear the birds sing, watch the sunlight chase the dappled shadows, and see the garden grow and seasons change.

Janus was the god of beginnings and transitions in Roman mythology. The God of change. He was depicted as having two faces looking opposite ways, one towards the past and the other to the future. He was present in the beginning of the world, guarding the gates of Heaven, and presided over the creation of religion, life and even the gods.

200.5 w x 130.5 h cm (Framed 226 w x 155 h cm)

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

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Of Purity and Purpose

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:

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

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

Fondaco Dei Tedeschi

The Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice, situated on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge. It was the headquarters and restricted living quarters of the city's (Tedeschi) merchants. True Merchants of Venice. For the first time in history there is now a viewing platform at the top of what is now a high-end Department Store and you can now see the South and North of the Grand canal - a great swept vista from high above, one that has never been painted (in my knowledge) before. It looks like an unreal perspective buy you can see the Rialto Bridge roof tops at your feet and Gondola that look like waterboatmen fleeting across the great Grand Canal surrounded by this Renaissance city and its burnt siena and red ochre walls. Magical!

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame.

Framed 123.5 w x 105 h cm (101 x 81.5 cm aperture)

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Sycamore and Rosemary

Sycamore dairy bowls filled with rosemary and herbs on a lead window kitchen ledge at Plas Mawr, Conwy. In Elizabethan times rosemary billowed through life with scent - not only used for cooking it was a medicinal symbolic plant citing wisdom and faithfulness. The flowers, boiled in tea, were an all-purpose medicine. Putting the leaves under your pillow guarded against nightmares. The ashes of the wood, burnt, were used for cleaning teeth. Brides and grooms exchanged rosemary wreaths instead of rings; burned as insence and planted or strewn on graves. There is a still peaceful quality here, of light and reflections. These objects integral to life.

Oil and gesso on board in antique frame. 63 x 75 cm (79 x 89 cm including frame) Ask for this work at Ffin y Parc Gallery

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Pantry

Large Earthenware vessels in the pantry of 17th Century Country House Erddig, Wales. During the late 18th and 19th Century 10 servants portraits were commissioned, and still remain intact in the servants quarters of the house, these were rare and showed a great respect and mutual loyalty between the servant and family. The servants quarters have a wonderful feel, a happy place - filled with bold colour and bountiful with everyday objects - from copper pans, and jam jars filled with preserves to their bread and cheese making implements in the pantry. I felt that these vessels represented this rich life, the tapestry of the place. Oil and gesso on board in antique frame. 64.5 x 88.5 cm (84 x 108 cm including frame) Find this work at Ffin Y Parc Gallery, Llanrwst, Wales until August 30th 2014.

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