Lost Hours and Sleeping Dragons is a large impressionist painting measuring 137 x 107 x 3 cm. In the dappled shade of a Linden tree, I lay on the grass, watching the water. The dark depths brooding and lost to me, spectral life lazily gliding by. I glimpse their colour, I know they are there. I hang my hand in the water, feeling the cool space where these graceful gold phantoms live. I look out over the water, watching the lily pads gently rocking on the surface, offering shade and hiding space for the creatures beneath. I loose hours, watching, feeling myself being lulled with the gentle motion around me. I remember the legend of the Koi and its transformation into a dragon and smile at the sleeping dragons I see. My inspiration for this beautiful painting is a wonderful arboretum close to my house where there are numerous shady spots beside the many ponds and lakes. On hot summer afternoons hours are lost laying in the shadows and looking out at the water…. I wanted to capture the lazy tranquillity of the water and the ghostly creatures which live in those alien depths. When the sun hits the water colours become fused and reflections of light flicker then disappear. I wanted the image to become clear as you focus in on it rather than be immediately visible, just like when you are sat at the water’s edge and your eyes have to adjust to the colours of the depths. Lost Hours and Sleeping Dragons is an abstract painting initially and then as the viewer ponders it the image emerges, like glimpsing a fish in the water. Lost Hours and Sleeping Dragons has boxed edges which are painted black and has been coated with a satin varnish. The canvas is stretched over a bespoke wooden frame. Lost Hours and Sleeping Dragons is ready to hang.
