A Season in Stillness

Not many people understand my deep desire to design and create. It’s so much a part of me I can’t imagine ever stopping.

When I was young I spent hours, in solitude, working out how something could be made. I loved drawing and making books – sewing and making up patterns. It never occurred to me that I shouldn’t try things out.

After I took voluntary severance from a full time job, it took me a while to find myself again. I loved my work but had begun to experience a disconnect to the career in graphic design I’d forged over 40 years. I remember I felt like my days, in recent employment, were spent navigating internal politics through a ‘pea souper’ of a head fog. I was, in short, burnt out, miserable and lonely.

It’s true that age creeps upon us. At 63, very proud and grateful of it, I have no intention of stopping my curiosity, learning and being brave. I’ve discovered over the last year that I’m still my younger curious self. Still hungry for a challenge.

It was over 20 years that I last used oil but even then it was a mistaken purchase and I used it on top of an acrylic piece. So about 7 months ago, I wanted to explore oils again. I joined a local art group last year and felt the deepest desire to remove myself from self doubt, judgement, attention to the details and let my intuition guide me in my painting.

Some time ago, I had started to record the colour palette of random objects and the seasons. Then the aha moment I’d been looking for came to me.

My mission

To create a full collection of 5×5” abstracts using oils. I set to work in planning it out and have to admit I used AI to help clarify my messy, going off in tangents, brain dump of ideas.

The idea of my project was born and a structured brief was set by me and for me to complete over 6-10 months.

A Season in Stillness

I still think this looks like silliness at first glance and I’m fighting the urge to change it to ‘A Season of Hush’ but here we are.

A sensory collection of twenty small oil paintings inspired by the scents, textures and quiet beauty of the season.

This collection of 20 5×5” oil abstract paintings aims to capture the following pairing titles as my guide. A fleeting sensory memory, if you like, such as the warmth of spice, the chill of frost, the glow of candlelight. These small works celebrate the visual aspect of the season, where scent, taste, and texture intertwine to create a language of comfort and curiosity.

In a world that moves quickly, these miniatures invite a pause and a chance to take notice of the subtle beauty of winter: the gleam of a berry, the curl of smoke, the hush of snow.

Every pairing from Apple and Cinnamon to Mistletoe and Moonlight is an intimate meditation on atmosphere and emotion. Painted intuitively with attention to simple shapes and textures that the pairing means to me.

The collection will arrange these pairings into four chapters which I plan to reveal soon.

It going to be fun and messy putting all the artworks together – I look forward to revealing my progress on my website and socials in the coming months.