My latest painting, Fractured Light, is an acrylic on canvas measuring 20 × 30 inches. It is one of a number of intricate pieces of various sizes I have made in recent years — a dense triangulated grid that radiates outward from a concentrated centre, built entirely from interlocking geometric planes.
The underlying structure took some planning. Each triangle had to sit precisely within its neighbours, the angles accumulating across the full canvas without losing their internal logic. As an architect by training, I find deep satisfaction in that kind of discipline — the geometry is not decorative, it is the painting's skeleton.
Against a framework of whites, greys and near-blacks, I placed colour sparingly and with intent — acid yellows, hot pinks, electric cyan, burnt orange. These are not random accents. They are the refractions: the moments where imagined light catches an edge and insists on being seen. A handful of triangles carry fine parallel stripes, a quiet counterpoint to the solid fills elsewhere.
The composition moves from a denser, more active centre outward to broader, quieter planes at the edges — giving the piece room to breathe despite its complexity. I wanted the eye to enter through the middle and spiral outward, the way light disperses from its source.
I am still painting regularly here in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. At 88, I find that geometric abstracts are of increasing interest to me — That, is exactly why I keep returning to them.
Work Details
Title Fractured Light
Medium Acrylic on stretched canvas
Size 51 x 76 cm ( 20 x 30 inches)
Year Dec 2025