Sunflowers Under a Midday Sky

Working with the Noon Sky

There is a particular challenge in painting a midday sun without losing the weight of the sky around it. With Sunflowers Under a Midday Sky, the focus shifted away from a delicate, traditional landscape toward capturing the sheer momentum of light across a field.

In the studio, the piece emphasises the physical application of paint. I wanted the sky to feel structured, almost architectural, which led to using broad, directional strokes of blue and turquoise. By leaving the thick ridges of the brushwork intact, the upper half of the painting gains a texture that catches the light in the room, mirroring the movement intended on the canvas.

Below, the sunflowers are handled with a similar immediacy. Rather than detailing every petal, the forms are suggested through blocks of yellow, ochre, and deep earth tones. The dark centres of the flowers provide a necessary weight, anchoring the lower half of the composition against the high-contrast flare of the sun above. It is an exploration of how vivid colours—greens, blues, and bright yellows—can sit side-by-side without competing, creating a balanced sense of warmth and open air.