Creating BURST
BURST marked the beginning of a new series of 20 × 20 cm paintings focused on colour, movement, and abstraction. While rooted in still-life imagery, the piece became more about energy and sensation than realism, using fragmented shapes and flowing forms to push the subject beyond a traditional representation.
Pomegranates became the starting point for the painting because of their strong visual symbolism and sensual qualities. The richness of the fruit, the saturated reds, and the almost jewel-like seeds naturally lent themselves to a more expressive and layered approach. Rather than carefully recreating the subject in a realistic way, I wanted to explore how colour and shape alone could communicate atmosphere and emotion.
BURST | 2026 | Acrylic on Canvas | 20 × 20 cm
Moving Towards Abstraction
One of the main aims while creating BURST was to allow the painting to feel playful, energetic, and slightly chaotic. I became particularly interested in breaking areas of colour into smaller fragments and shapes, allowing different tones to interact across the surface rather than blending everything smoothly together.
This approach gave the piece a mosaic-like quality in certain areas, helping create rhythm and movement throughout the composition. The fragmented background contrasts with the more fluid organic forms of the fruit, creating tension between structure and movement.
The orange swirls became one of the defining visual elements within the painting. Rather than acting as purely decorative lines, they helped guide the eye around the composition and introduced a sense of motion that ties the piece together. Their exaggerated, flowing movement also reinforced the more sensual and expressive atmosphere I wanted the painting to carry.
Creative Process
The painting developed quite instinctively, with colour exploration becoming more important than precise realism. I started by loosely blocking in the larger forms of the composition before gradually layering brighter tones and fragmented shapes across the surface.
As the piece evolved, I focused on balancing areas of detail with flatter, more abstract passages of paint. The pomegranate itself remained the central anchor within the composition, while the surrounding shapes and swirls allowed the painting to feel more experimental and expressive.
Throughout the process, I deliberately avoided becoming restricted by naturalistic colour choices. Instead, I used exaggerated pinks, oranges, blues, and reds to heighten the vibrancy and energy of the work. Keeping visible brushstrokes and sharper colour shifts also helped maintain a sense of spontaneity across the canvas.
What emerged from the process was a painting that sits somewhere between still-life and abstraction — using familiar imagery while allowing colour, rhythm, and movement to take control of the composition.
Beginning A New Series
As the first piece within this smaller-format series, BURST became an important starting point for exploring new ways of approaching colour and composition. Working at 20 × 20 cm encouraged a more immediate and instinctive painting process, allowing experimentation to remain at the centre of the work.
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