Play on Monochrome is a contemplative series that reimagines the timeless essence of black-and-white photography through the medium of paint. Each work isolates a single flower – a universal symbol of fragility, beauty, and renewal – and renders it in a predominantly monochrome palette. Subtle infusions of colour surface through darkened blue and greens, translating into luminous shades of grey that shift with light and perceptions. Thick, expressive brushstrokes interplay with translucent layers, creating both tension and fluidity, as if the flowers are caught between stillness and motion. Soil is delicately worked into sections of the background, grounding the compositions with unexpected texture and connecting the fragile bloom to is natural origins.
This series invites viewers to pause and experience the understated power of simplicity, where shadow, texture and suggestion hold as much presence as colour.
Play on Monochrome Florals
- Play on Monochrome Florals (Oil on Canvas – 91.5 cm x 121.5 cm)
- Play on Monochrome Florals II (Oil on Canvas – 100 cm x 100 cm) SOLD
The inaugural work in the Play on Monochrome Florals series commands presence through its immersive scale, drawing the viewer into a close encounter with abstraction and nature. Expansive petals stretch across the canvas, rendered in layered shades of white and grey that shifts with light, revealing subtle depths of shadow and texture. A delicate infusion of yellows and ambers emerges within the composition, offering a quiet yet luminous counterpoint to the monochrome palette.
Expressive brushstrokes move fluidly between thick, gestural marks and translucent veils of oil paint, evoking a sense of movement as though the flower is caught between stillness and unfolding. Soil integrated into the background provides a tactile anchor, grounding the ethereal subject with organic materiality. This work embodies the series’ exploration of black-and-white photography translated into paint, where restrained tones are charges with emotion, and simply give rise to complexity. A striking statement piece, it invites the collector into a meditation on fragility, resilience and the enduring dialogue between nature and abstraction.
Concise descriptions:
Play on Monochrome Florals
- Play on Monochrome Florals (Oil on Canvas – 91.5 cm x 121.5 cm)
- Play on Monochrome Florals II (Oil on Canvas – 100 cm x 100 cm) SOLD
This large-scale work magnifies a single bloom, its petals unfolding in layered whites and greys with subtle touches of yellows and ambers. Expressive brushstrokes and soil-infused textures ground the composition, balancing fragility with resilience while evoking the timeless depth of monochrome photography translated into paint.
Play on Monochrome – Agapanthus
- Play on Monochrome – Agapanthus (Oil on Canvas – 61 cm x 61 cm)
The delicate structure of the agapanthus is translated into bold abstraction. The predominantly monochrome palette is enriched with subtle infusions of lilac, blue and white, while deep greens and dark blues dissolve into nuanced shades of grey. These tonal shifts suggest both light and shadow, giving the impression of a bloom that is both grounded and in motion. Sensitive brushstrokes flow across the canvas. This work reflects the series’ dialogue with black-and-white photography, where restraint in palette reveals unexpected emotion. Agapanthus offers a contemplative yet dynamic presence.
Play on Monochrome – Amaryllis
- Play on Monochrome – Amaryllis (Oil on Canvas – 61 cm x 61 cm)
Continues the series’ exploration of black-and-white photography, yet this work leans into suggestion and mystery. The flower emerges as a presence rather than a precise form, its contours softened into atmospheric layers. A restrained monochrome platelet is subtly charged with touches of emerald green and teal, offset by whites and greys that dissolve into shadow. Larger portions of soil integrated into the surface create a raw, tactile depth, grounding the work in materiality while contrasting with the ethereal suggestion of petals. This interplay of texture and tone enhances the sense of fleeting movement and quiet revelation, inviting the viewers to look closer, beyond what is immediately visible.
As with the broader Play on Monochrome series, restraint becomes expressive. The amaryllis here is not just observed, but felt – its power residing in ambiguity, presence and transformation.
