The Greatness of Connection

“The Greatness of Connection”: a man and a small girl stand ankle-deep in water. He does not move. She is pressed against him, and the wind pulls her hair sideways.

“The Greatness of Connection”, 120 × 90 cm, oil over texture.

The sea is almost flat. I brought the gold up near the horizon so the light comes from below and fills both figures from behind. Faces you will not see. Two silhouettes and the waterline.

Water turns up in nearly everything I paint with people in it. In water a person stops holding themselves together. Age goes. Status goes.

Trust weighs nothing. Safety cannot be photographed. We live on both.

The greatness here is that the adult only has to stand there: no comforting, no explaining, no deciding on her behalf.

A family seascape painting, usually taken for a bedroom or a child's room. Some buyers recognise their own daughter in the girl. Some recognise themselves.