There were many drawbacks to successive lockdowns but one of the rare silver linings was the amount of consistent time it gave me in the studio, time I used to knuckle down to long hours of painting and broadening my understanding of colour theory.
Like many artists I took part in the artist support pledge on Instagram, and the discipline of having to develop and finish a daily painting sharpened my abilities far more quickly than I expected. I have enjoyed further study of colour theory, finding the time to read widely, and having the freedom to experiment and put the theory learnt into practice without the normal pressures of commission and exhibition deadlines looming. In many ways lockdown gave me the freedom to fail, and fail many times over until I achieved my idea successfully. I have been striving for a stronger use of colour in my work without losing a sense of realism, but also, a sense of
