Jessica Symons
The wind playfully kisses my cheeks and sends a gust of warmth through my hair. Birds joyfully jostle their feathers, sending secrets and love songs through the air. A babbling brook calms anyone who approaches with its kind assurance and soft rumble. This is the world we live in, this is the world I treasure. In this layered harmony around us, we find peace, not just the quiet kind, but the kind that roots you deeply in your body and reminds us that we are alive. This is where my process begins- not with a canvas and paint brushes, but with presence.
In these moments of everyday life, walking beneath tall ancient beings of roots and vines, my two labradors playfully run ahead, sniffing every cluster of flowers they find, often with my mother beside me. This is my harmony in life, where I reconnect with myself, my loved ones, and the world around us. I live for these moments, I live for the feeling I get, and I live for sharing this feeling with others through my artwork. In these pleasant outings with my mother, we exchange laughter, advice, compassion, and even comfortable silence, as our dogs relish in their freedom, making us giggle and reminisce.
During these walks, I admire everything around me and find myself reaching for my camera to capture the unique experiences we encounter. I photograph what stirs something inside me, the way the sun peeks through the trees creating dappled light, or the way a path is carved through the trees and bushes, or even fleeting moments of unique colour that catches my eye. These photos are just the beginning for me; they hold the fragments of memory and wonder, reminders of the sensations that moved me in a special way.
As John Berger writes, “Every time we look at a photograph, we are aware, however slightly, of the photographer selecting that sight from an infinity of other possible sights.” (Berger) I am selective when choosing an image, so I can pick the most appealing and wondrous choice. When I start my practice, I do not seek to replicate these photographs but to replicate the feeling and essence of a place. I translate these images mainly into oil paintings on canvas, but previously I worked with acrylic paint for years until I fell in love with oil paints in 2024 through their bright vibrancy and thick textures. One might expect a painting made from a photo would look exactly alike, but this isn’t true. My paintings sculpt themselves; I follow what feels right, and I follow this instinctive intuition. I try not to fully rely on an image but to use it as a guide that anchors my memories. Through this technique, I can change colours and composition freely but hold onto the emotional impact.
Through this process, I want others to feel the breathless moment of connection- that pause in time when nature speaks to us in soft whispers, and we are still enough to hear it.
