Kate in Annesbrook Guash painting

This gouache was painted in 1997, when I was living in Norway. I had done a series of sketches in the summer and autumn before I left. I can’t quite remember, but I’m guessing I may also have used photos.
I am the same age now as my mother was in this picture. She had managed to restore a lot of the interior of Annesbrook, the walled garden was in production, and she had bought an acre of land in front of the driveway so there was a sense of space around the house. She had just planted the box hedge marking the border of the garden.
I think I was painting positivity. I also painted things we hoped would be and things I wanted to be true. In a way, the picture sums up the hard work and fulfilled dreams of my mother.I believe I was painting my mother’s success.
This painting was based on the tradition of portraits of wealthy men and their families standing in their estates, known as landowner or estate portraits, but my version is much more naïve and dreamlike.
The sitting room is to the right of the front door, with two Californian redwoods at the top left of the painting . The oak tree, seen in another window painting I did of Annesbrook, is to the top right. The geese would never have been down in these fields; sometimes they grazed on the lawn, as they are very good at weeding out buttercups.