RA Summer Exhibition

I am a contemporary British painter, based just outside of London.

Here is a new painting Letter from the Sky, which was recently on view

in this year's Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition.

Selected by Katherine Jones RA, the exhibition was co-ordinated by Ryan Gander OBE RA.

Letter from the Sky, 2026, Acrylic and ink on canvas, 60 x 76cm

Close up detail image, Letter from the Sky, 2026

Ideas behind the work

I made a new work to respond to this year's exhibition theme Interconnectedness.

Letter from the Sky touches on the private conversations, which we may have with something higher than ourselves.

Perhaps this is the universe. When we experience personal challenges, ask questions or seek support. Or maybe it is when we give thanks for the good things in life. The dashes could be interpreted as messages darting around the cosmos.

I paint intuitively, beginning with a khaki colour for the ground, using heavy bodied acrylic. I had been wanting to incorporate more earthier tones in my newer works and had been looking at Merlin James, specifically his Modern House painting of 1995.

Yellow ink lines were dripped onto the canvas, tilted in varying directions to create a fresh starting point. From there I began to build the painting. The central imagery came first, the figure later on.