Essays & Notes
Writing
On painting, observation, and the literature of seeing. Essays on practice, art history, and the books that shape how I work.
Practice
On Painting at Night
There is something the night does to colour that daylight cannot replicate. A reflection on nocturnal studio practice and what the dark hours offer the painter.
Art History
The Still Life as Literature
Why the still life — often dismissed as a minor genre — may be painting's most literary form. On objects that carry narrative, and the tradition of vanitas from the Dutch masters to contemporary painters.
Literature
Books That Changed How I See
A reading list for painters: seven books — novels, essays, and one poem — that altered how I understand light, composition, and the act of looking.
Process
On Gold Leaf and the Sacred
Working with gold leaf on 'The Weight of Gold' prompted a long inquiry into the theological history of gilding — and what it might mean to use the same material in a secular context.