Having experimented in the past with different media including pumice, latex and marble dust, I evolved through expressionism and abstraction and eventually returned to figurative painting. I then settled some 20 years ago on a love for still life and the technical demands of that genre, having always admired the Dutch and Spanish Schools... This very soon led me into the world of nature and plants. There was a move away from the staged still life. I became, and still am, totally fascinated and absorbed by the inexhaustible variety of flora and fauna and wanted to capture this in paintings that I see as intimate small landscapes. I find the microcosm in nature totally absorbing and beautiful in an 'other worldly' and magical way and, without doubt, endlessly inspiring. This connection with nature has proved for me an inspiration that has lasted many years and produced many exhibitions of work. I was depicting plants set within small intimate landscapes - where the ground, the insects and the background gain equal weight in the composition. Lately I have been wanting to move the work from a depictional approach to a more subjective and imaginary approach that best conveys my personal and emotional involvement with nature; to try to emphasize the more fantastical and magical aspects of it which I see more and more. Flowers are still at the core of my paintings but different elements are incorporated as a way of expressing my vision of nature as a magical realm. I play with proportions and create strange morphings of plants and creatures. I feel my engagement with plants is so deep now that I want to express a personal view of them; in a sense to depict what the eye cannot see. There is a consciously strong fantastic and surreal feel to my current work which I continue to develop. I am trying to express my belief that in nature we are all interconnected and of equal importance - be it a plant, an insect or a human being. More at http://www.joseescofet.com/page3.htm undefined

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