Memory marks

“Liisa & Pentti” (2022)

This was a painting commissioned in memory of a parent who passed away. That bittersweet feeling of nostalgia for a time that has passed; a person remembered, but no longer reachable.

I worked from a lovely set of photos - pictures of my friend who commissioned the work and her father. We talked about wanting to remember the times they spent together when she was growing up, the carefree love and larking about, before illness made things tough.

The photo that really resonated was of father and daughter learning to rollerblade together - you could tell so much about their relationship from the way they clutched at each other for balance, laughing as they toppled and skidded. In the painting I wanted to have the track marks of skidding rollerblades, the grit of tarmac and clattering wheels, and colours from the early 1990s - all overlaid with clouds of memory and love.