“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