I am awed by the beauty of light falling on water, water in all its forms. These visual phenomena are perfect natural metaphors for the ever changing flux in which we make our lives. I love things one can only see for an instant; they take our breath away and give us air at the same time and can shock us into contemplation, thought and change.

Certain places and circumstances exert an undeniable impulse to make art inspired by them in order to understand what they might mean. My paintings are inspired by the experiences of sustained reflection upon the Aven River in Pont Aven, France, the Pacific Ocean near my studios in Bolinas and San Francisco Bay, Silver Creek in Idaho and the Inland Seto Sea in Japan.

Pegan Brooke, 2024