The language of colour: every hue carries a memory

I do not believe colour is decorative. Colour is language. The warm sienna in a painting holds afternoon light. The soft green holds the quiet of early morning. The grey-pink wash of a city sky before sunrise — that one is mine; you might read a different memory into it.

Why I keep returning to sage

Sage is a colour that has been waiting for me for years. It is not loud, not assertive. It does not announce itself. But once you place a single note of sage beside a warm white, the painting changes character. It becomes calm without becoming dull. Restful without becoming sleepy.

Sage is the colour of resting attention.

Two colours, one painting

The hardest paintings to make are the ones that use two colours and pretend to use ten. The discipline is in restraint. Every additional hue costs something — some clarity, some intention, some quiet.

A painting with five colours is often a painting with two colours and three apologies.

A practice for collectors

Live with a painting for a season before deciding what it means to you. Hang it in different rooms. Watch it under morning light, evening light, lamp light. The painting is not finished when I sign it. It is finished when it has lived in your life long enough to belong there.