Dancing In The Hedgerow

Foxgloves have always felt like one of Ireland’s most spellbinding wildflowers to me, tall, bright, and impossible to ignore when they appear along a hedge or on the edge of a quiet lane. Their colour has a kind of natural drama to it: those vivid pinks and purples, fading into softer speckled throats, as if each bell is lit from within. They’re delicate up close, yet bold enough to stand proud against the wildness of the landscape around them.

What I love most is how alive they are. Foxgloves aren’t just beautiful – they’re bustling little worlds. Bees disappear inside the bell-shaped blooms, pollen-dusted and busy, turning each flower into a shelter and a feast. Watching that tiny movement tucked inside such vibrant colour was a huge part of what inspired this piece: the idea that beauty isn’t only something you look at, it’s something that hosts life.

In Irish mythology, foxgloves are often whispered about as fairy houses… little hidden doorways where the unseen world lives close to our own. Whether you believe in that magic or simply love the stories, it’s hard not to feel it when you find a patch of foxgloves swaying quietly in a breeze, like they’re keeping secrets. With this painting, I wanted to capture that sense of wonder… the meeting point between nature’s vivid colour, the hum of life inside it, and the old Irish feeling that the land still holds a little enchantment if you take the time to look.