Shakad, hasty awakening Painting

Working with the almond blossom, there is something soothing about the annual assurance of the cycle of blooms, the first is always the almond, inevitably it snows as it flowers. Shakad is the hebrew word for wake and is referred to the almond as it is one of the first to awaken from a winter sleep. The trees near the terrace have a haunting, looming presence, the bees drone is encouraging and the skies backdrop varies from bright cerulean, to graphite, platinum to payne’s grey, or they stand proud, ghostly against the dark eerie evening. Working still in intermittent bursts, initial sketches are later adapted in an instinctive, immediate process., much of the aesthetic decision making is done in the moment - intuitively working. Bold, flat, graphic colour fields sit alongside swift, gestural marks contrasting with sharp punchy lines. Fluidity against stillness, loose over gusto, finding the balance in composition and palette, there is so much satisfaction in a sweeping chalk mark, or a play on finding the humming, vibrating energy. The next works will be a few more abstracted florals and landscapes, experimenting still with balance and techniques and drawing on the surrounding natural landscape.