55 Summer in a Vase

Some paintings arrive fully formed, unannounced, as if they have been waiting patiently for the right moment to surface. Summer in a Vase was one of those. It did not begin as an idea, a sketch, or even a vague intention. It appeared suddenly, prompted by circumstance, light, colour, and a quiet need for warmth.

We lived in a generous apartment on Hopton Street, just off Karangahape Road in Auckland City, for several years. Facing west, the windows looked out across Western Park and toward Ponsonby Road. It was a view that changed constantly, shaped by weather, light, and season. Late afternoons were the best, when the sun dipped low and stretched long shadows across the park, bathing the city in soft golds and blues.

The flowers arrived as a birthday present from our friend Klaus for my partner, Jo. Her birthday falls in early October, that awkward time of year when spring promises much but delivers little. That year, spring seemed hesitant. The trees outside were still bare, their branches thin and skeletal against the sky. The air carried a chill, and winter felt reluctant to loosen its grip.

The bouquet was unapologetically optimistic. Roses, freesias, snapdragons, and soft greens crowded together in a clear glass vase, a riot of colour against the muted tones of the city beyond. Yellows, pinks, reds, and creams jostled for attention, each bloom asserting itself, refusing to be ignored. Placed on the windowsill, the flowers caught the afternoon light, their colours intensified by the glass and water, glowing against the cool blue of the sky.

The contrast was striking. Outside, the city waited. Inside, summer had already arrived.

Colour plays a central role in this painting, not as decoration but as emotion. The bouquet is not simply observed; it is felt. It carries memory, anticipation, and relief. It is a reminder of warmer days to come, of gardens yet to bloom, of evenings that stretch longer than expected. In a season defined by restraint, the flowers offer excess.

The composition is simple but deliberate. The vase sits confidently against the skyline, bridging the domestic and the urban, the intimate and the expansive. The city is present but subdued, its forms reduced and distant, allowing the flowers to dominate the space. The glass vase anchors the arrangement, its transparency revealing the stems, the water, and the mechanics of the gift. Nothing is hidden. This is not an idealised still life; it is an honest one.

Summer in a Vase is a painting about timing. About how beauty often arrives when it is needed most, not when it is expected. It captures a fleeting moment when a birthday gift became a marker of hope, when colour cut through the grey, and when summer, briefly, took up residence indoors.

Some paintings are planned. Others simply appear. This one arrived like those flowers did, unexpected, generous, and full of promise.

Oil on fine portrait linen: 125 x 95 cm 49.21 x 37.4 in (Sold)