Open

'Open' captures Morrisons in Newquay on a quiet evening, its brightly lit entrance glowing across an almost empty car park beneath a wide, star-filled sky. It's an ordinary destination, but one that represents the small routines and journeys that quietly structure everyday life.

A supermarket might not seem like an obvious subject for a painting, which was partly why I wanted to paint one.

I had been thinking about the everyday places that become part of our routines without us really noticing them, and Morrisons in Newquay felt like a particularly good example. It's somewhere people visit on the way home, when they've forgotten something, or simply because they need to pick up a few things before the day ends.

What interested me visually was the contrast between the large, dark sky and the artificial light of the supermarket below. The parking bays, trolley shelters and lines of the almost empty car park lead towards the entrance, while the illuminated building becomes a small beacon within the wider landscape.

It was important that the supermarket was still open. There is something quietly reassuring about seeing the lights on and knowing that familiar place is still available, even as everything around it becomes darker and quieter.

The title 'Open' is deliberately simple. It describes the supermarket, but also reflects something central to my work, looking again at places we encounter every day and finding something worth noticing in them after dark.

Painting coming soon...