A 72" x 48" painting in oils of an exuberant Sussex poppy meadow with swallows flying overhead, inspired by the South Downs near Chanctonbury Ring.

The style is semi-abstract and art nouveau and is very vibrant and colourful. It was inspired by walks taken in fields and woodlands in summer 2020 after (one of the Covid years) when nature seemed to be especially therapeutic for us all and was even more lush than usual. The wildflowers were at their best and the poppies, in particular, stand out against the green grasses and reeds. The scene shows an abundance of wildflowers flowers in the foreground and trees and fields leading off into the distance behind them. Two barn swallows swoop over the flowers. Swallows are birds you see often in Sussex and they are very much woven into the landscape of summer.

Memory painting tends to reflect how I felt about a place I have been to rather than realistic details and as such I like this way of working. What I feel about an English Sussex summer is that it is beautiful and wild, and I am happy to have captured this feeling and in such a large canvas.