About Tigers (Wishing I could hide from adulthood behind funky face paint), 2025. Acrylic on Canvas. 90cm x 60cm approx.

My 2025 painting, Tigers (Wishing I could hide from adulthood behind funky face paint) is a front facing figurative painting of two young children in a seated area. It is created on a 10oz pre primed canvas with a depth of …mm. Winsor & Newton ‘magenta’ acrylic making the underpainted tone and other Winsor & Newton acrylic colours create layer on top. Thesecolours are mainly: process cyan, process yellow, magenta, Paynes grey and titanium white and my favourite brushes to paint with are the Da Vinci flat brushes (available from both Cowling & Wilcox and Jackson’s Art Supplies).

Through the bright colours and blocky strokes, the painting shows two children sat among chairs and purple leaves with orange tiger designs painted across their faces. With hidden identities, the girl on the left looks out to the viewer, wide eyed with and engaging smile, while the boy on the right looks down in a calm, comfortable state. The painting speaks fondly of the children’s expression, peace and simplicity, and like the title of the painting suggests, it makes one wish for the ability to hide away from the responsibilities of adulthood and blissfully spend even half a day masked.

This domestic scene is in a quiet outdoor space or garden area: reflecting a peaceful serenity as well as innocence. With a lonesome background the canvas is filled with the relationship between the two children, while empty chairs signify the missing.

Negative space and line-work guide us round the image, encouraging one own memories and experiences to fill the pink void. The pink underpainting luminates through layers of blues, purples and oranges, creating a dreamlike atmosphere with a 2000’s naïve edge.

With themes of childhood, relationships, identity and growth rippling through the painting, I hope that you can connect with your own ideas and feelings of nostalgia.