#48: Preparing for Saltaire: Three New Paintings in Progress

There’s something energising about a deadline. After weeks of experimentation, I’m now preparing three paintings to submit for the Saltaire Art Gallery Winter Open Call — including my recently finished reinterpretation of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam.

The Winter Show 2025/26 will bring together artists from across Yorkshire, and the idea of contributing to such a diverse collection feels like the correct next step in my own journey.

The Creation of Adam, Reimagined

One of the works I’ll be submitting is my variation on The Creation of Adam. In my version, God’s hand and man’s hand never appear together — the moiré illusion makes one vanish while the other is visible. For me, it captures something about our own time, where the connection between divinity and humanity feels fractured and unstable.

Including this piece in the submission feels important. It marks a turning point in my practice — the first time I’ve used moiré to reimagine such a culturally iconic image.

Two New Companions

Alongside this, I’m developing two entirely new paintings. Both continue my exploration of moiré, Perspex, and illusion — but each in its own way. One uses colour more boldly, pushing beyond the monochrome feel of my earlier experiments, and is a portrait of David Hockney. The other is a continuation of my Sick of the Blues painting and plays with fragmentation, letting the interference break the image apart and reform it as the viewer moves.

Together with The Creation of Adam, these three works feel like a body — a snapshot of where my art is right now: testing limits, playing with instability, and always returning to the human figure.

Why Saltaire Matters

Saltaire itself has always inspired me — a town where history, architecture, and creativity intersect. The Winter Show has quickly become a platform for Yorkshire artists to share their voices, and the chance to submit feels like an opportunity to continue submitting my work to competitions of a good standard..

Whether my paintings are selected or not, the act of preparing them feels like a statement: this is where my work is heading, and this is how I want it to speak in dialogue with others.

Looking Ahead

Moving from black-and-white drawings to colour paintings, and now to moiré illusions on Perspex, has reshaped how I think about art. Submitting to Saltaire feels like a way to bring that journey into focus — to say: here are the results of all the testing, all the failures, all the breakthroughs.

Three paintings. One submission. And, hopefully, one step forward.

More information about Saltaire Art Gallery’s Yorkshire Artists Winter Show - Open Call can be found here.

.M.

Be real.

Make art.

If you’d like to learn more about my creative process or see my latest work, feel free to reach out or check out the rest of my website.