Cinnamon Sky

Following a trip to China in 2018, Hermione created a new series of work inspired by the limestone mountains rising out of the Li and Yulong rivers in the south of the country. She explores the themes of light and shadow, translucence and opacity, while imbuing her work with an immersive and atmospheric quality that captures the memory and feeling of places she visited. In this way she creates pieces that are often abstracted but firmly rooted in the material world.

In Cinnamon Sky she was interested in portraying the distant mountains as elongated peaks that are painted in a tissue like way using thin glazes. Past the darkness of the river in the foreground the eye is drawn to the colours of the mountains and sky which are quite unnatural but hint at a scent in the air and a little touch of nostalgia.

Hermione paints directly onto a birch plywood box panel. The sides are 3.8mm deep and she brushes the sides using an ‘ombre’ technique to reflect the mood and colour in the painting itself. As seen from different angles, the painting takes on a sculptural form.