Little Explorer – A Special Moment

I’m absolutely delighted to share that my piece Little Explorer has been selected as one of six Artists of the Month (February 2026) with Camelback Gallery.

This one feels particularly special.

The inspiration came from a photograph taken by my great niece’s dad. It’s such a simple image — just Summer on the beach — but the moment it captures is everything. She’s at that wonderful toddler stage where the whole world is new, exciting and full of possibility. Every stone must be picked up. Every wave investigated. Every stretch of sand is an adventure waiting to happen.

Summer really is a little explorer — as are most toddlers, if we’re honest. They move with complete confidence and curiosity, completely absorbed in their own world. That carefree love of being alive is what I wanted to hold onto in this piece. Not just what she looked like, but the feeling of that fleeting stage of childhood. Of course, the painting process wasn’t quite as carefree.

The foreground nearly defeated me. Sand is deceptively tricky — too much detail and it looks fussy, too little and it feels unfinished. There was, as usual, at least one moment where I stood back and muttered, “That’s it. It’s going in the bin.” (Artists everywhere will understand this phase.) Thankfully, I didn’t follow through.

Instead, I simplified, softened, and reminded myself that this piece wasn’t about perfect sand — it was about a perfect moment. Being selected by Camelback Gallery is such an encouragement. It feels like recognition not just of this painting, but of the direction my work is moving in — towards emotion, memory and those quiet, everyday scenes that mean the most. Sometimes the simplest moments are the most powerful. And sometimes the paintings you almost throw away turn out to be the ones that travel furthest.