Portsmouth Exhibition: "Life force"

Over the coming blogposts I want to share about some of the artworks that are going to be exhibited in Portsmouth Cathedral and Petersfield Townhall as part of the Hampshire summer exhibitions.

Today's painting is called "Life force" and is exhibited in Portsmouth Cathedral from tonight.

"Life force" was inspired by watching a young fern break through concrete. I wanted to capture a sense of the fern's energy and resilience, as I explored in last November's blogpost.

I always loved the layers, texture and energy of the piece, yet the painting never felt quite finished, even though I entered it into an art competition.

Last week I finally figured out what was bothering me: The shapes were too symmetrical and reminded me of the petals of a flower - the fern had got lost... After reworking part of the painting it now captures my vision much better.

Here are some close-ups and a video for those of you who are not able to see the work in Portsmouth Cathedral: