Original artwork description:

The Iridia and Arke series of paintings were evolved to give the viewer the time and space to enjoy the pure experience of seeing colour.
We can all appreciate colour as we see it around us. A flower, a sunset, a piece of clothing, but there’s often no time to deepen our feeling for colour.
These paintings can be a place to let the mind explore the experience colour. They also can also give a bit of a lift to a our day as we repeatedly pass by them. I know because I wall-test them myself. In dark times, some radiant colour can be very welcome.


With ‘Arke 4’ I wanted to try a symmetrical composition again, but using a palette based more on the natural world of sun, sky and flora. I always choose the colours carefully, and test them, but how they will work in the final painting is hard to predict sometimes, but it did help me towards the last one in the series.




The following text is common to each painting in the Arke series.

The Arke paintings were born from the success I found with the Iridia series. This time, I wanted to push my paint formula further. I also started using a different type of brush to produce a more even brush stroke. To help in that I also found new ways to apply the gesso, the white base coat that is the first thing painted onto the canvas. This is at its smoothest under the painted stripes, but not necessarily around the border.

In my naming research, I noticed that the Ancient Greek culture had a God or Goddess for almost everything in nature, along with their helpers etc. I found that they had a Goddess for the secondary rainbow, the fainter one in a double rainbow, called Arke. This immediately seemed right for the later works, as I had pushed the paint to make it more transparent and delicate.

Form is not key here. The stripes are not supposed to suggest something from reality, though associations can of course happen. These paintings exist to invite the eye of the viewer to move between the colours, without attachment, making for a simple meditative effect.

These works could be described as Minimalist. They are not at the extreme end of that classification, but they do seek to draw out the essence of something, (here it is the direct experience of colour for the viewer), while avoiding distraction.

Through all the Iridia and Arke paintings, the stripes can be laid out in one of three ways:

1. The earlier ones are basically an improvisation. Each colour is applied one at a time across the canvas, with the thought in mind of the colours to come and the space available to
them.

2. Some stripes are applied in a sequence or pattern, from left to right, following a plan.

3. Some stripes are planned from the centre outwards, to make a more symmetrical layout.

I created a very modified paint formula, so that the colours are still vibrant, but also transparent and very thin. Light is not only reflected from the surface, but also passes through the paint and is bounced back out again by the white canvas or the colour beneath, adding to the richness.

I then put the finished painting on the wall in my house and live with it for a time. If it catches me each time I pass, or lets me enjoy the colours and lose myself for a little while, then I know that, for me, it has worked.

These are paintings for an intimate setting, where you can pass close to them, or be near them, throughout the day. Your distance and angle of view, and the lighting at each time of day can often bring out a new aspect of the colours.

If I’m feeling a little tired or frazzled, I’ve found these paintings raise my spirits, and it would be my greatest joy if other people experienced the same thing.


All Iridia and Arke paintings are ready to hang, as box canvases, with any hardware to be supplied by the buyer to suit their situation.

The paintings are shipped in a strong case, made from recycled wood products, which is sealed in a waterproof mailing envelope.
If the postal charges are less than anticipated, a refund will be made. Insurance is included, subject to destination, but is only available to cover loss of the item.

The image size represents the dimensions of the canvas, as the coloured area and the white surround are integral to the image.

The size of the painting in the room setting is only approximate. Please refer to the accurate measurements below.

Materials used:

Acrylic paint