104. Orchard's Veil

Artwork number: 104
Artist: Diana Neggo
Medium: Acrylics on board
Description: Orchard's Veil
The morning is cold and still as I look out from my kitchen window. Beyond the orange trees, a gentle mist sweeps into the valley, settling into its folds and occasionally rising to kiss the tops of the orchard. Moments like these remind me of the quiet beauty that makes living in the Ferguson Valley so special.
My heart feels full in these fleeting moments. Surrounded by such beauty, gratitude comes easily.
However, Orchard's Veil did not come easily. The painting underwent many iterations and countless layers before something began to emerge that truly captured the feeling of this moment in time. Built primarily in acrylic, with touches of acrylic pen, the work is as much about atmosphere and memory as it is about place--exploring the veil between what is seen and what is felt.
Artist statement: My painting is a way of connecting with the world around me and expressing what I sometimes can't put into words. I'm drawn to the rhythms of the natural environment, the changing moods of the landscape and those fleeting moments when something catches my attention and stirs an emotional response.

Working mainly with acrylics and mixed media, I build my paintings through layers, using palette knives, squeegees, scrapers, rags and brushes to create texture, movement and unexpected marks. I often begin with a feeling, a memory or a fragment of a place, allowing the painting to evolve without a fixed plan. I respond to what happens on the surface, adding, removing and reworking until the painting finds its own voice.

My work sits somewhere between abstraction and the recognisable landscape. I'm more interested in capturing the feeling of a place than describing exactly what I see. For me, painting is both a challenge and a joy, a way of making sense of the world and finding moments of connection, beauty and stillness. I hope my paintings invite others to pause, feel something of their own and find their own story within the work.