Dreams In Gold

Size:28 x 28 in.

Ian H Watkins’ Dreams in Gold (23" x 24") is a luminous meditation on the Welsh coastline, where land, sea, and sky dissolve into one another with poetic delicacy. The composition is dominated by a glowing band of copper and gold leaf, suggesting sunlit cliffs that rise out of a shifting, ethereal seascape. Below, washes of violet, rose, and muted grey evoke the tide retreating across wet sand, with fine white lines tracing the meandering marks of water as it carves its way back to the ocean. The surface bears the artist’s signature layering of acrylic, pastel, and charcoal, creating both depth and immediacy, while drips and broken textures lend the work a raw, elemental vitality.

Watkins’ instinctive handling of material mirrors the fleeting and transitory nature of coastal light. The gold leaf shimmers as the viewer moves around the canvas, transforming the scene into something both timeless and dreamlike. His process, often incorporating sand or soil gathered on location, binds the work physically to the land it represents, grounding its radiance in authenticity.

In Dreams in Gold, Watkins captures not just a place, but a feeling – a quiet, contemplative hiraeth, imbued with memory, longing, and reverence for the enduring beauty of Wales.