Inaugural Alumni Show West Downs Gallery . University of Winchester

Watercolour, Pen, Ink, Collage and Gold Leaf Metal on acid free cold pressed paper.

This original watercolour painting was inspired by fellow alumni’s poem, This House That I Cling to. Written by Rebecca Ward this poem spoke to me of grief, loss. How do we move though time and fall out of it as we grow and age?

Watercolours ‘zing’ with colour and I wanted to make the earlier happiness in the poem full of sunshine, flowers, affection and love. I have been looking again at the art of Frida Kahlo and Chagall and had them in the back of my mind as I painted.

The house is a doll’s house model of my childhood home. My father made a scale model of it when we moved out. 38, Benjamin Road, High Wycombe , Bucks is still standing. The flowering apple tree grew in the garden where it was always springtime.

The poem’s themes are reflected back in blues and browns, it is not a true reflection as memory is an unreliable medium. The children now run out of the painting and not into it. The reaching figure stands outside of the painting and Time. This is personal reflection for me and how I feel having lost key family members over the last three years. However vivid our recollections ,Time is a merciless prison guard, inserting itself between us and those locked out by death. We can not reach back and touch them again. Nevertheless colour and love remains.

The painting is in a white frame that is sustainable sourced and produced in a carbon neutral factory based in the U.K

Measurements are approx. 70 cm x 50 cm and ready to hang on your wall.

Price includes delivery within the U.K