This work is part of Leonie Barton’s latest series, Looking Out to the Block. This collection of paintings is a contemplative exploration inspired by a large Limestone block located in her garden. Originally intended for a sculptural project that her physical limitations prevented, Barton turned to painting as a stationary and creative outlet. The Limestone block becomes a focal point, observed through shifting natural light, its changing textures and imagined transformations inspiring a series of paintings. Barton’s process involves layering wax, oil, and pigment on the canvas, responding intuitively to emerging shapes and colours. The works unfold organically, compositions are not predetermined, allowing emerging shapes to evolve and colours to change. Through this body of work, Barton has effectively realised a sense of balance, unhurried contemplation, and serene completeness, demonstrating her dedication to these artistic qualities.

Leonie says of this series: “I watch this Limestone block through the window, I watch the morning sun hit its planes to glow and the afternoon cast its darkest shadows that impose shifts in shape and highlight its rough and now wearing skin. I imagine it in different forms, what will be added or what will be taken away. In the meantime, it waits for me and emerges in the paintings, while I too wait for it.

“For me as an abstract painter, it’s all about the process, the physical act of painting. An opportunity to be still and contemplate. Whilst I might reference life, things seen, and experiences had, it is simply a starting point and from there, it’s just time spent in the studio doing, responding to each step until the painting has no further requirements of me. When it feels balanced and quiet, it’s done.”