This gestural painting 'Big Blue' is my emotional response to the big skies and vast seas we have here on the North Devon Coast.   Here, I wanted to capture that vibrant, cobalt blue sky that we experienced during Lockdown.  Nature reclaimed itself for such a short period of time.  Here it is in all it's glory - captured and remembered forever.   We have the most magnificent changing weather which creates such vibrant colours and energy along our coastline.  I wanted to capture a memory of the positive feelings and sense of freedom that walking the South West Coast Path inspires in me.  The push and pull between the calm sky and boldly applied marks in the sea.  An edgyness is created using oil pastels with urgent mark making.  Whole arm and body rubbing, applying, sanding back and revealing.  By playing with and flattening the perspective, you have a sense of being absorbed in the elements.  It conveys a textural, physically tactile environment.  It was a deliberate choice to use square composition rather than traditional rectangular portrait or landscape as this is a direct reflection of our society.  Looking out to the world via social media and the square thumbnail of Instagram.  This creates an immediate push and pull struggle between traditional and modern, nature versus technology, true versus fake 'Instagrammable' life.