Lotus — The Power of Purity

“Lotus — The Power of Purity” opens across the whole canvas. White petals run from the centre to the edges, each one modelled separately and lifted off the plane, with gold lying in the depths between them.

The canvas is 120 × 100 cm, oil and gold.

The petals are large. Sharp at the tips, broken in the middle, gathered in layers, and the front row throws a shadow onto the row behind.

There is almost no colour. White, ochre, gold along the veins. The whole life of the work is in the light that travels over those ridges.

The lotus grows out of silt and comes up clean. What mattered to me was not to explain that in words but to show white rising out of a dark ground and staying white.

A floral painting like this goes into pale rooms: a living room with white walls, a bedroom, a loft with brick.

It works above a sofa, though better hung higher than usual: a lotus is comfortable to look at from slightly below.