I presented The Pause Before last November in London, which was the opportunity to show my most recent work; small gouache paintings done while traveling, oil and acrylic studies on paper working with a model, a couple of landscapes and bigger works combining observation and imagination.
It was also the opportunity to experiment with “framing” in a way that would make sense to me: and that’s what I’m hoping to share with you here!

But before getting into it, I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the support I received then, and particularly for the dear Kayoon who offered to help me with curating and hanging the show. I’m still not really good at asking for help, so to receive this spontaneous and generous offer was so precious. It made everything much better; nervousness and overwhelm were replaced by great conversations and laughter. Kayoon is a wonderful artist, on top of being an incredible soul, please do check out her work if you haven’t seen it yet!

I was also very grateful for everyone at the Islington Arts Factory, where the gallery space is. A very special community art centre in London filled with great people.

And a huge thank you to each of you who came of sent their wishes, I really felt the support and the love.

Painting the figure in Gordes

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, at the end of September, I had the privilege of spending a whole week paaaaaaainting! Nearly nothing else to think about, just painting painting painting, under Gordes’ beautiful colours, with the fantastic Nathalie modelling, alongside a lovely group of fellow painters.

Since I graduated, I haven’t being able to paint this intensely and I have to say I missed the feeling of joyful exhaustion that comes with it.

I was so happy to be able to share those paintings in the exhibition. Sketches, studies, small works, are for me just as important as the bigger pieces, in the sense that none could exist without the others. Hence the preciousness of putting on your own show: I get to decide what I feel deserves to be shared, and those little ones did great!

Some of these studies (Dappled Light 1 & 2 and Inside the Pool 1 & 2) were also my first time using acrylic, a medium I had until then thought “wasn’t for me”. I imagined it quite contrived, maybe a little too stiff and neat. Well I was very happy to find out I was wrong and could have a lot of fun with it, especially in these very fast paced works. The only downsides left for now are the pigments I have, which feel a little too plasticky at the moment; it’ll be nice to have warmer ones to complement those cools eventually.

Sunshine started on the last day of the workshop, and fair to say I had burnt most of my focus already. My mind had gotten tight and critical: so I did my best but really struggled with it. The silver-lining here, is that I wasn’t attached to the painting yet, so I felt free to keep on painting it once back in the ‘studio’ (aka van).
Something clicked for me when I added the arm gesture as I started to relate emotionally to the pose. And also I got to say, I do very much enjoy painting hands from imagination - it’s like painting a motif that I will never experience but I love to playfully have a feeling for what it could be like. So here she is, Sunshine.

The Faint started from life, continued from imagination as I wanted to find my personal link to the pose. What stood out for me was Nathalie’s hand gesture, hiding from the sharp sunlight; and in the context of the painting, hiding her face from our gaze while the rest of her body is exposed - it reminded me of fainting episodes, where the body has given up already but the mind is getting a bit of delay in switching off and able to understand for splits seconds what has/is about to happen, time gets distorted and it’s all happening both very slowly and at once. I decided to add the other two silhouettes, as if she was falling into herself.

Sun-kissed started from life with a small study in oils on paper (shared above). I then made a few very quick marks on a larger scale, painting over a fairly dark and red portrait I had never completed. I later continued on painting from the studio, helped at times by my study, or just improvising shapes, trying to preserve the energy with which I had started. One of those flowy paintings that just come easily together.

Gouache from Georgia & South of France

In 2022-2023 I backpacked for seven months, with small sketchbooks and a gouache set with me. This is when those squares got painted: some in Georgia as I volunteered in Lagodehki region in February/March; others in South of France where I taught in the Spring.

I very much enjoyed seeing their colours and atmospheres echoing one another as I displayed them together. And it was just as brilliant seeing you connect with them too , with personal memories emerging in response, showing how universal such painted snapshots can be.

Like the studies I’ve shown above, I feel very grateful to be able to share this part of my practice alongside the more “proper” paintings. These pieces are important to me, connecting me to the past, the people I’ve meet and places I’ve visited.

Two more painting where done in gouache on cardboard during my time in Türkiye. It was a very challenging period (feeling the distance, having just separated and experiencing a lot of anxiety), a time where I couldn’t paint much but I’m really glad those two found their moment.

The Wait was born as a doodle in one of my sketchbook, as I remembered one of my oldest memory - being sat on a high chair and put in a corner so I’d focus on eating my food instead of getting too distracted by life going around. As I paint that little kid who might be frustrated and closing off, I imagine her surrounding slipping away from reality and into her inner-world.

Resting had started some years ago as a painted sketch from life of my friend Inma - I had tried reproducing this visual motif a few times and on this occasion it led me to adjust the pose many times until I found this new resting figure, peacefully melting into her surrounding shapes.

Drawers & amulets

I appreciate how frames can transform and enhance paintings and it’s always a real treat seeing collectors pick the perfect frame for my work. However on a personal level, I’m more used to experience my work unframed, but “nested” nonetheless. It probably goes back to being a kid and having a lot of pictures from magazines up the wall, finding satisfaction in how they connect with one another, empty spaces included.

For this show, I ended up repurposing drawers from my childhood, flipping them 90° so they’d become shelves. I had used this chest of drawers before and turned them into stairs: I guess I quite like a drawer’s potential to become something else; like a door or a window to another world, an invitation to imagine things a little differently.

For each painting their home

I was incredibly touched by how successful this show was, primarily measured by visitors’ connection with the work, as well as seeing two third of the paintings finding homes during the Private View.

Some are still with me and, even though I’m enjoying their company very much, it’d mean a lot for them to go be with some of you. Ultimately this is why I paint, hoping that some of those pigmented worlds I create can in turn move someone else and be part of their life. It also means I can carry one painting for a bit longer, and hopefully dedicate as much as possible of my life to what I do best.

Here to access the Exhibition Catalogue

Or directly here’s the list of the work that is still with me at the moment, please get in touch if any resonates:
- Daughter & Sun
- Daughter & Sea
- Sunshine
- Panther
- Nathalie, warm light
- Nathalie reading The Muse
- Dappled Light 2
- Georgian cafes (Left one has sold)
- Various studies (Top Left, Central one, Bottom Left, and Bottom Right have sold)
- Resting