PETRICHOR

I recently held an exhibition of my work at The Show Off Gallery entitled ‘Petrichor’.

I had always been entranced by this word - it just sounded so good and described something familiar - the scent of rain on earth. The word itself is derived from the Greek work ‘Petra’ meaning stone and ‘ichor’ which in Greek mythology refers to the gold fluid flowing through the veins of immortals!

The distinct smell after the rain comes from the bacteria in the soil which releases a chemical called geosmin.

It was so lovely to display the pieces in one place and the little white painted gallery was perfect to show the work to the full effect.

Most of the work is painted quite a monochrome palette - reflecting the colours in pavements, patios, paths and distant hills or countryside and other paintings inspired by a trip to St Lucia where we had a lot of tropical rain capturing that warm misty rain and the smells and sounds of droplets of water on leaves and flowers.

Thank you to everyone who came to visit and made purchases too. Little Harbour Street in Whitstable is so lovely and well worth a visit for a wander around the shops, galleries and cafes.