Jon Rowland

Those Soft Parts of Conversation – Flaming Night

Frederic Leighton was a British Victorian painter, draftsman and sculptor. His works “ …depicted historical, biblical, and classical subject matter in an academic style”. This work draws on his Flaming June painting – an impossible statement of desire, that reflects on the texture of both presence and surrounds. What was his driving force? Maybe this was an affirmation! Following on from two similar compositions, I joined a group of artists who got together to paint a contemporary version of Frederic Leighton’s Flaming  June , a Pre-Raphaelite’s impossibility. I enjoyed painting this. It was finished off in the studio.