I have called this work ‘Wistful’ rather than ‘Wishful’ Thinking, as a play on words.

I enjoyed painting this - and really felt the sense of beauty and the bursting radiance and joyful possibilities of that time of youth, when all is fecund, longings of love and lust are like a far-distant rumbling of a spectacular storm, yet innocence and unshaped feelings are quietly building up like a tower of a cumulonimbus.

I would describe it as a painting of a young woman wistfully thinking whilst sitting in a field. It is early summertime and her thoughts are towards the lazy, hazy heat of the long summer ahead.

What might it bring? Perhaps thoughts of love are in her mind; a secret hope of entwining with her crush or one she admires from afar.

Or perhaps she is musing on her future - a life perhaps of romance, interwoven with the happy companionship that a lover might bring - a home or a farmstead in the country, with animals, pets and children. A simple life well lived - but all yet to be formed.

I have made this frame (pictured) from scratch to suit the painting also; gessoed, gilded, painted, stained and distressed it to reflect the light and the colors in the painting.

Oil on canvas, with bespoke frame.. The painting measures 13 inches by 16 inches: overall dimensions, including the frame, are 22 inches by 25 inches.