I have probably been working on this particular support for 5 years at least. It’s been a hundred things. Images that I was fairly happy with at times but none of them somehow ‘stuck’.
The blossom of the trees this year hit me hard, I don’t know why. It seemed especially beautiful.
“They can’t cancel Spring” as Hockney says. It’s been there every year and sometimes I see it more than at other times, but this year I really saw it with a heightened awareness. An awareness of its transitoriness. No wonder the Japanese have festivals around this moment.

Top 5 blossom paintings

No 5. The Blossomiest blossom (2001) by George Shaw
No 4. Orchard in Blossom (1888) by Vincent Van Gogh
No 3. The Almond tree in blossom (1947) by Pierre Bonnard
No 2. Cherry blossoms at Arashiyama (1834) by Utagawa Hiroshige
No 1. In a Shoreham garden (1830) By Samuel Palmer