Porth i Annwn (Gate to Annwn), 2026 Oil, oil pastel and oil stick on slate

Porth i Annwn is painted on repurposed Welsh slate using oil, oil stick and oil pastel. The work approaches the stone as both image and object: a surface already marked by geological pressure, extraction, weather and use.

The title refers to Annwn, the Otherworld in Welsh mythology, and positions the painting as a threshold between visible landscape and an imagined space beyond it. Its shifting forms suggest a cave mouth, portal, altar or fragment of terrain, without resolving into a single image. Areas of colour appear to emerge from and recede into the dark slate, creating a sense of passage, concealment and transformation.

The work forms part of my ongoing exploration of material memory, Welsh extraction histories and painting as a threshold surface.