From a collection of works produced during lockdown.
 
Overdyed hemp silk with natural dyes, minerals and rust prints, gilded with 22k gold leaf. Left in dye pots outside during April 2020 to soak up colour and time and languish in the elements. The result was a colour palette much darker than my usual muted pastels and pinks which felt apt when the world was shutting down, it certainly feels reflective of the mood at that time. 
As always, I was looking for the beauty in all of the darkness and this piece for all of its moody intensity, has been lightened with a cascading gold leaf embellishment.
These pieces strike a balance between controlled mark making and just letting nature do its thing upon which I work with the final composition to highlight and emphasize with gold leaf.
 
Hemp silk is a beautiful, strong , sustainable and textural fabric. Working on silk brings the colours to life in a more vibrant way than if I was to use canvas and enables me as an artist to push the medium of dye and pigments, further allowing me to be more experimental and expressive by presenting them in this way.
 
Natural dyes, pigments and 22k gold leaf on hemp silk, stretched on a wooden frame, ready to hang.
12" x 16.5"