Esmeralda # 2

The systems of process, colour progression and grouping which govern the development of the painting ensure subtle asymmetries and colour combinations and thereby celebrate the particularity of painting in an era of technical imaging. The aesthetic qualities of the work are partly dependant on the very materiality of paint and its application. The flat area in the painting is applied in acrylic paint while the rest of the canvas is worked using a wet-into-wet oil painting process. It includes emerald green sequins. The very appearance of the painting is changeable according to lighting conditions. This painting evokes an iconic image, fine fabrics, precious metals and a visual language of embellishment and decoration but questions certainty and dabbles in the irrational. It makes particular but ambivalent reference to mirrors that do not reflect, frames within frames and to the legendary emeralds of La Macarena.