dryad
SPORE, 980 x 1400 mm, oils and mixed media on canvas on panel, 2022
Studio Portrait with SPRITE, 1200 x 2000 mm, acrylics, oils and mixed media on canvas, 2021
SPORE, 980 x 1400 mm, oils and mixed media on canvas on panel, 2022 (detail)
DRYAD SERIES
“In Greek mythology, a dryad is a tree nymph, the spirit of the tree. Legend holds that when Apollo chased the goddess Daphne to rape her, the Mother Earth, Gaia, swallowed her up and turned her into a Laurel tree to avoid him.”
The series is inspired by the shimmering evanescence of nature, particularly by the tonal vibrations of colour in a thicket or woodland. The series also often takes me to Julia Gordon-Bramer’s comment on the poem “On the Difficulty of Conjuring up a Dryad” by Sylvia Plath, where Plath, “while referencing this legend, attempts to do the reverse, or to undo the doings of the Earth: to turn the tree into the spirit.”
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/plath/article/download/13238/19547/33566
SYLPH, 490 x 610 mm, oils and mixed media on canvas on panel, 2021
SPATE, 600 x 800 mm, oils and mixed media on panel, 2021
CAISSA, 800 x 1200 mm, oils, pastels and mixed media on canvas, 2021