Inspired by Elen of the Ways, an elusive figure woven through British folklore and modern earth-based spirituality, Young Elen imagines her not as an ancient or distant goddess, but as a young woman at the beginning of her journey.

Associated with wild places, ancient tracks, deer and the pathways that connect us to the land, Elen has come to represent journeying, instinct and finding the way forward.

For reasons I couldn't entirely explain while painting her, my Elen emerged young. Perhaps there is something in that — a figure not yet certain of the path ahead, still becoming and discovering where it might lead.

Rather than the deep greens of an ancient woodland, she appeared amongst cool blues and silver-white birch, with antlers rising into the trees and autumn leaves caught through her hair. The palette gives the piece an almost Nordic quality — a quiet, wintry landscape somewhere between the real world and folklore.

Her direct gaze contrasts with the wildness surrounding her: human, vulnerable and yet somehow belonging to the forest.

Young Elen is about following the path before you necessarily know where it leads — trusting instinct and the quiet pull towards something waiting to be discovered.