“Yet they’re ever uneasy asunder.” — from The Joys of Love Never Forgot. A Song, 1735. Some paintings depict a moment; others speak of a lifetime. In Darby and Joan, I set out to create a work that would not reveal itself all at once, but would ask for stillness, patience, and a slower kind of looking. At first, the painting presents two figures held in a tender embrace. Their faces meet gently, their eyes are closed, and their hands rest upon one another with the ease of long familiarity. Yet the work is not merely a depiction of affection; it is a meditation on companionship, faithfulness, and the kind of love that endures through time. Love shaped through years rather than moments. This reflection moves through the main elements that shape the work: the figures’ stone-like construction, the living use of colour, the expressive brushwork, the gold leaf of the wedding rings, and the Genesis vision of relationship that underpins the painting. The phr...