Luminescence is an ongoing series that marks a pivotal moment in my practice—my first body of large-scale work post-graduation. Made in the SWG3 Graduate Studio in Glasgow, these paintings stretch to two metres in height, and with that scale, gesture becomes exaggerated, more physical. There’s a momentum carried forward from my degree show at The Glasgow School of Art last August—something still unfolding in real time.

It’s November in Glasgow. The days are darkening fast. Light peeks through the studio window, catching on the cold edges of the LED panels above. The outside world—the rain, the grey, the slow descent of winter—feels present in the space, bleeding into the work.

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The series builds on themes I explored in Hotworks, responding to the collapse of the Motherwell Steel Works and the wider deindustrialisation of Lanarkshire. But Luminescence shifts into something quieter—more internal. It explores light, heat, and memory as mapped through post-industrial landscapes. I walk through forests—Scots pine and ancient woodland alike—tracing paths through places that remain untouched or reborn after industry. These landscapes feel like pockets of breath, of stillness, and I try to carry that into the work.

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Each painting is a kind of map—some intuitive, some deliberate. In the studio, I oscillate between control and surrender, mirroring the resilience and unpredictability of the land I’m painting. My palette draws from nature, from archival imagery, from the ghost of machinery and the softness of moss. There’s a quiet energy in these pieces—layers of place, history, and emotion glowing through the surface.

This work is about transition—of land, of light, and of myself as an artist—breathing into a new rhythm after graduation, and finding space to stretch.

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Oil on Canvas, 220cm x 100cm x 5cm