I was pushing my youngest son on a ‘birds nest’ swing in the local playground one sunny autumn morning in 2022 when I distractedly noticed the fallen leaves lying beneath the swing. The strength of the colour I saw, and in particular the contrast between the autumnal colours in the leaves and the rich, sunlit blue of the ground surface, allied to the tonal depth and shape of the elongated shadows, inspired this painting.

It began as a demonstration painting for one of my art classes, and was then worked up in session after session after session after session. If I hadn’t called time on it, signing and dating it a year ago, I’d be adding tiny brush mark after tiny brush mark still. The painting was made on A4 paper in acrylics.