Ancient Light – Chandelier

‘Ancient Light – Chandelier’ is painted on an oval canvas, linen stretched over an MDF panel, ready to hang.

I started with a window. The idea was to look in from outside: the frame, the glass, and beyond it the chandeliers glowing in the dark. It didn't work. It took me a while to understand why, but eventually I let go of the window entirely and concentrated on the atmosphere inside.
That's when the painting found itself.
Chandeliers have always been an extravagant human response to darkness: hundreds of candles, multiplied in crystal. I tried to give the painting depth using glazed layers, to let the light also come from within. The fresco-like craquelé ground is still there, most visible where the arches catch the light -an ancient surface holding a very human scene.