Finished in the final hours of 2022, "Heron" is my latest exploration into contrast and digital texturing. It is the first piece where I set myself a fixed dimension aspect ratio of 16:9, perfect for the elongated body of a young person. The human anatomy has always fascinated me but most recently I have only used it as a starting off point for my work. Not focusing on naturalism and, similar to the piece "The Swimmer", abstracting the head beyond recognition has had a freeing and inspiring effect. The Heron, standing tall, is half submerged in water, in my eyes this is a pond. Instead of giving us answers we ask ourselves, why did he enter the water? What pulled him there?

The piece is digitally painted, its size is 6105 x 3434 pixels at 300dpi.