“If you cannot travel to nature, let nature come to you.”
From the moment I discovered the wonders of the night sky, I was instantly charmed. The breath-taking softness and elegance of the stellar forms, coupled with the richness of hues, was an addition to my palette that I couldn't resist. A series of watercolour and oil paintings formed in early 2016, entitled 'Cosmic Nature'.
This collection of oil paintings and watercolours are the result of a combination of two loves, nature and astronomy, inspired in part by the works of David Attenborough, Stephen Hawking, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Brian Cox and Carl Sagan, amongst others.
The subject matter is simple, stripped down to the bare essentials – the play of the colours of light, and the essence of the animal within the painting. Each piece is homage to the night sky as much as it is to the species within it. The interplay of cloud and stars creates a unique and bold background that blurs the boundary between the real and the imaginary.
I hope to capture both the drama and delicacy of the night sky simultaneously, through soft brush-strokes and carefully structured compositions. The forms of the animals in the paintings fit comfortably into their starry cocoon, even though the coming together of the two in nature may be unlikely. For most of us, dreams of travelling to the other side of the world are far-flung enough, so the idea of a connection to a world beyond our own is for most of us, fleeting, invincible and untouchable. But by bringing the cosmos into nature, we can to connect the two and to solidify in our minds that we are all bound by the same forces, the same desires and hopes.
The constellations of stars, galaxies and planets are held together by the same forces of nature that bind all plants, animals and humans. Every corner of the sky provides a unique perspective; a different outlook on our home and its place in the universe. Cosmic Nature is an extension of the wonders of space, light and time.
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