Water Lilies 2020

Joshua Flint made this dreamy painting titled Water Lilies. Look at how he's built up the surface through layers and layers of oil paint. I can imagine Joshua starting with darker washes, maybe even staining the canvas, and then, like the water lilies themselves, the painting emerged. It reminds me of Monet, but also something else, something stranger. A white horse appears from the darkness, like a ghostly vision reflected in the water. I wonder if Joshua was thinking about fairy tales when he made this? See the way he handles the white paint, how it shimmers and dissolves? You can see the influence of painters like Gerhard Richter, who also used blurring techniques to evoke memory and emotion. Painting is like an ongoing conversation, isn’t it? Each artist adds their voice to the chorus, inspired by what came before, and pushing it in new directions.