LOU DERRY | ‘Sea Mists I’ | 2025 | oil on canvas | 40 x 40 x 3.5 cm

I was born in Tanzania and raised in rural England. After years of travel, I settled in Far North Queensland, where the visions of land, sea, and sky converge, draw me in, and continue to shape my practice. They embody both permanence and transience, offering room to explore the evocative qualities of place rather than its narrative.

Working primarily with oils I’m captivated by transitional states, especially the charged moments between the dry and wet seasons, where turbulence and calm coexist, where heat and humidity build toward release. My paintings aim to hold these fleeting balances: chaos alongside stillness, threat alongside beauty. My process moves between restraint and spontaneity, embracing hesitation and impulse as essential to the vitality of the work.

Human presence is scarce and figures are absent. My paintings are meditations on atmosphere, creating space for contemplation and for sensing not only what is seen, but what is felt.

LOU DERRY | ‘Sea Mists I’ | 2025 | oil on canvas | 40 x 40 x 3.5 cm