With Time
A new collection of paintings created for a solo exhibition at Fisherton Mill, Salisbury, during March 2025.
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Inspired by the Seasons and some beautiful prose composed by local Shaftsbury writer, Ann Brooks.​
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Capturing the changing Seasons using colour and words, take all the time you need for a walk through the Seasons with me.
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Being of a certain age, these days, I find myself a little obsessed with Time and the notion of standing still long enough to appreciate the now.
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Focusing on the beauty I find across all four Seasons, this exhibition feels like an attempt on my part to slow time down; to reverse it even while I start working on paintings this Autumn that were prepared for last Spring.
Spring
A sparkle in the air, a quickening of Nature’s heartbeat as winter’s snowdrops fade and eager, golden crocuses open their petal mouths to drink in the warming sun.
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Then - oh joy! – sun-kissed daffodil buds burst open to trumpet a golden fanfare, welcoming spring.
Cherry, plum, apple and pear trees delight with delicate petals heralding an autumn harvest.
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New life abounds.
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Seduced by sunny days, a brimstone butterfly like a drifting fragile leaf, basks and lingers at the dawn of Nature’s span.
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Hedgerows sport a fresh green mantle as tiny leaves, full of life, joyfully shed their winter shrouds, as Nature’s springtime gifts bring the promise of summer joys.
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by Ann Brooks
Summer
Summer breathes an exuberant chorus of vibrant colour and joy over rolling hills and cottage gardens, over towns and villages -
it permeates the inner soul.
Bold palettes of colour excite and fulfil springtime garden hopes and dreams…roses… poppies…marigolds…pansies…with drifts and splashes of considered harmony…while muted, modest eyebright, sky blue speedwell and wild thyme festoon hillsides where they will.
Banks and verges hold aloft bright pink campion tempered by frothy white Queen Anne’s lace, like a bridal pathway, while in the sun’s warming rays, butterflies draw nectar and join the song of Nature’s summer harmony.
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by Ann Brooks
Autumn
Leaves that shaded from fiery summer sun, their work now done, sing one more symphony of colour.
Playful winds catch them, twirl and swirl them, dance with them, then paint a patchwork palette of burnished bronze, red and ochre as they fall – a crunchy carpet of summer-gone-by.
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Harvest-ready corn ripples as the breeze ruffles it like golden hair - blushed, fallen apples lie awaiting man or mouse. Deep amethyst blackberries bejewel the hedgerows - gifts from Nature’s lavish cornucopia.
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Valleys cradle drifts of morning mist ‘til sun’s autumn rays magic it away. Nights draw in as winter treads lightly on autumn’s domain.
Winter
Winter has power to hold our world in its piercing, icy thrall. Fearsome winds whip up seas, battering our crumbling, fragile shores.
Leaden skies silently drop a soft white cloak of snowflakes, sculpting a new landscape and new outlines in our once familiar world.
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Bereft of leaves, trees and hedgerows, woods and coppices reveal their hidden beauty, their naked form. Age-old trunks thrust branches, then filigree twigs to adorn the sky.
Pallid winter sun now shines through their skeletal beauty to the distant landscapes, opening vistas to the far beyond, which only winter can reveal.
Want to see more...?
My painting practice is expressive but also intuitive which means my style is ever changing so you might find something of interest from previous solo exhibitions at Fisherton Mill.
