Responding to the Darkness Descending - Painting 2

Responding to the Darkness Descending – Painting 2

Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Size: 100 × 100 × 4 cm

This is the second of six paintings in Responding to the Darkness Descending.

I began the series in response to the clear return of old prejudices, hardening certainties and the renewed determination to divide people into “us” and “them”. The hard-won lessons of history are being forgotten—or wilfully ignored.

My answer to that darkness is paint, colour, life, beauty and hope.

Full view of an abstract painting in vivid yellows, reds, greens, blues and pinks, dominated by a large deep-red concentric disc.

Close-up of the deep-red disc, showing its dark concentric ridges against surrounding yellow and red paint.

Close-up of a raised yellow concentric form beside passages of red, green, blue and pink paint.

Close-up of pink and white flower-like forms among passages of green, blue, yellow and red paint.

Close-up of a raised gold circular form against a thinly painted yellow and gold surface.

About the Painting

Here, the darkness takes the form of a dense red and black disc built from concentric rings. It dominates the centre but is surrounded by colour. A large yellow form echoes it below, while circles and flower-like forms recur across the canvas. Some remain clearly defined; elsewhere, they break apart into stains, splashes and fragments of colour. The dark form is powerful, but it remains one presence among many.

Parts of the surface are heavily worked, particularly the concentric circles, which rise into physical ridges. Elsewhere, the paint lies thin and relatively flat. The detail images reveal these contrasts more clearly than a photograph of the complete painting can.

See the Painting in Person

If you’re in London and would like to see the original, I’m always happy to open the studio. Just drop me a message and we’ll arrange a time.

Enquire about this work.