Movement, latent movement and motion matter to me in my work, as well as the interplay between foreground and background. I am curious to explore how the background can be used as a foreground and how that can resonate with and against the image to create senses of holding, space, imagination, and movement.
Ink and watercolour on sealed canvas I 70cm x 110cm I 2026 I Available
Isolating and exploring a motif (often a particular plant or aspect of the natural world) has formed the basis of my practice for the last 10 years. The Physalis (Chinese Lantern) plant interests me for its structural beauty and ethereal fragility. Up. Down! (Physalis) looks to take the eye of the beholder on a journey of the line, following it as it rises, arches and lands, all the while with the held lightness and weight of the individual physalis seed pods hanging from it. Working using pen and ink, watercolour and brush, over the canvas laid on the ground, I purposely explored a lack of control within my mark making to enable a fluidity and freedom with the materials.
‘I am fortunate enough to have been able to buy two of Mary’s incredible paintings. They’re completely different from one another but share the same sense of expansion and yet intimacy present in her work.
Mary captures the movement of life and distills the essence into something profoundly beautiful. Being in company with her work I’m aware how imperceptibly I’m being guided ‘out of my head’ and into a place of stillness and presence.’
Natasha Gordon MBE, playwright and actor