Original painting, watercolour and pastel on deckled rag paper
Artwork dimensions: 84 (h) x 59 (w) cm
Float framed dimensions approx: 100 x 75 cm
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The Sea Garden
Step onto the winding pathways and allow yourself to wander. Listen to the gentle movement of water, follow the flight of birds overhead, pause beneath the shade of towering palms, and become immersed in a world where every turn reveals another discovery. There is no single story here. Instead, countless stories unfold at once—hidden amongst the flowers, across the water and beyond each pathway—waiting patiently to be discovered by those willing to stay a little longer.
When I began painting ‘The Sea Garden’, I wasn't trying to recreate a real place. I wanted to imagine a world that felt entirely believable while remaining impossible—a place where the beauty and inventiveness of the natural world could meet human imagination in complete harmony. Here, coastal gardens meet vibrant marine life, architecture becomes part of the landscape, and every living thing belongs to the same imagined ecosystem. It is a place where nature and human creativity are not in competition, but work together.
I've always been fascinated by nature's extraordinary creativity. The more I paint, the more I realise that no human imagination can ever surpass what the natural world has already created. Rather than trying to compete with it, these paintings are my way of celebrating it. They grow from a place somewhere between admiration and invention—where my imagination responds to the endless wonder of the living world and asks, "What else might be possible?"
Hidden within this painting is a quiet homage to Derek Jarman's extraordinary garden at Dungeness. It is just one of many references woven into the world I've created. Some are personal, some celebrate places that have inspired me, and others exist simply to reward curiosity. I won't reveal any more. Part of the joy, I hope, is that every viewer discovers something different, and that each return uncovers another story, another connection or another quiet surprise that has been waiting there all along.
Above all, I hope The Sea Garden becomes somewhere you want to return to. Like a real garden, it should never feel completely known. There should always be another pathway to follow, another hidden detail to discover, another story unfolding just beyond where your eye first settled. If the painting encourages you to linger, to wander, and to leave with a renewed sense of wonder for the extraordinary creativity of the natural world, then it has achieved exactly what I hope painting can do.
