Original artwork description:

This artwork is the most heavily textured painting I've ever done and has taken over nine months to complete through the various stages of setting and adding layers.  The work is greatly detailed and has a unique topography.  For me, the work symbolises making beauty out of difficulty, grace from trauma even - it is the underlayers of us as human beings which accentuates the wisdom we later acquire.  

In order to create the ground, I used a fine layer of cement and then pressed silver birch bark cuttings into the wood to form the surface layer.  The final glaze and layers can be anything the viewer wishes to see within the work; perhaps a floating garden, perhaps a dream sequence  -it's open to interpretation.

The use of gold and bronze is particularly meaningful as it represents hope, which is the dominant part of the painting and is reflecting in the surreal waters below.

Materials used:

Oil and cement on canvas

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