Upwards & Across
150X115 cm, Silverpoint on Linen, 2023

This triangular work is etched out in silverpoint, a medieval medium used before graphite became popular. While it looks like pencil it is permanent and oxidises gradually, becoming warmer in tone over time. The use of silver as a medium for drawing allows me to make a conceptual link with photography which I make use of hugely within my practice.

Within its frame is a Horse Chesnut tree which was recently felled. Standing leafless for many years near my home I was struck by its upward thrusting branches and their complex composition. Their intersecting branches created dynamic frames, which I returned to view often before finally deciding to draw it.Timely as It was sawed down a few months after completing this work.

This triangular canvas is stretched in the proportions of a work by De Chiricho in the Kunstmuseum Basel titled "The Enigma Of Time" (1914).

Above: Upwards and Across in progress in my studio, its reference printed and pinned next to at upon the wooden wall. Below is the work on display at the Vadehra Art Gallery booth at India Art Fair, New Delhi, in 2024. Below Right: The newly built stretcher.