Art by John Cox
My Interest in light and colour has brought me to the use of flowers in my work, as they provide the perfect structure for light to interact with; a petal or leaf reflects and interferes with light in ways unlike any other surface. The elegant design and seemingly random patterns inherent in such plant life provide endless material.
The choice to paint on a large scale, presenting somewhat abstracted, "close-up" views, allows for greater exploration of plant structures, colours, planes, and subtle refractions of light, not easily made visible otherwise. This scale provides an opportunity to experience something of the mysteries of plant life which can be most fascinating.
The scale of time is also of interest; during the process of painting, the flower opens from a bud to develop to its zenith of colour and life, it then slowly dries and crumples, littering the studio floor. In a sense, the painting captures a moment in time, the flower at its peak, and extends its life span to that of the painting, not unlike human portraiture.
