Title

We will stand in awe of this wild, achingly beautiful place painting

We will stand in awe of this wild, achingly beautiful place
Oil on paper, 2025
210 × 297 mm

This painting was exhibited at Ortus as part of The Journey to This Wild Achingly Beautiful Place. Broad gestures, wistful landscapes and pensive figures reveal a return to a creative process that is hands-on, tactile, individual and exploratory.

The painting is part of a series I made on the Isle of Man, returning to drawing and painting after a long period of illness. The landscapes are the ones I grew up in: wild, wind-shaped trees, open highlands, Celtic stones and the colours of the island that stay with me no matter where I go.

The painting is of my mum standing in the wind at Cronk ny Arrey Laa. Its ancient cairn and bleak, open landscape were a particular inspiration. I am drawn to the sense of movement within this place. The wind moving through the landscape, and the feeling of being small within something so vast.

This is the most personal work in the series. My mum supported me through some of the hardest stages of chronic pain and illness. It became a way of recognising the quiet strength she offered me every day, and the presence of someone who stood beside me when I could not always stand on my own.

The work is also about the relationship between strength and vulnerability. We can appear strong while carrying things that are unseen, and sometimes it is the support of another person that makes it possible to keep going.

This body of work explores fragility, belonging and recovery and the ways in which we are held by the people and places around us. It is for the people who hold us: family, friends, caregivers, professionals, and anyone who shows up when life becomes too heavy to carry alone. Their work is often unseen, but its impact can be profound.

20% of the proceeds will be donated to Bethlem Gallery. These artworks were developed in collaboration with the gallery for the Exhibition, This Wild Achingly Beautiful Place.