Abstraction is at the core of all great art. The abstract expressionists were always pushing the boundaries of what paint could do, and this is something essential to the growth of my own work.

Recent visits to the Jenny Saville exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and Maggi Hambling's "Nightingale Night" at Pallant House Gallery reminded me why I love working in this purely abstract way. It allows for complete freedom in how paint moves and behaves on the canvas. In this piece, I've poured, scraped, and manipulated the paint to create these flowing turquoise forms that seem to have their own energy and momentum.

The bronze gold marks cut across the composition, creating a dynamic tension against the cooler blues and teals. These aren't planned or carefully placed—they're instinctive responses to what the paint is already doing on the canvas.

Abstraction allows for the exploration and experimentation of specific mediums, which in turn creates a new kind of visual language. What I learn here, in these purely abstract works, feeds directly back into my landscape painting. The same fluid, spontaneous mark-making that creates this piece is what gives energy and life to a wave or a storm cloud in my coastal work.