"A Golden Kind of Day" Original Artwork by Sandra Gale

What it holds

Big golden flowers with peachy pink centres dance above a bright turquoise vase, against a gorgeous lilac background. Underneath, a rich checkerboard of earthy browns and reds gives all that colour somewhere to land.

A Golden Kind of Day has a bit of an eccentric aunty personality.

I imagine her out in the veggie patch wearing fabulous sunflower-patterned overalls and a big floppy hat. She's the one who gives the best hugs, and when someone unexpected turns up for lunch, she shuffles the chairs around and finds room for everyone.

A little earthy, a little eccentric and very happy doing her own thing.

Story & inspiration

This artwork started with a few painted paper offcuts lying next to each other in my studio.

I spotted the gold and lilac together and thought, oh my gosh, those colours look fabulous! Then I added the turquoise and loved how luscious it looked against the lilac.

So this one became a bit of a colour experiment, playing with complementary colours and seeing what happened when I brought them all together.

I started with a neon pink ground, which peeks through in those little drips beneath the flowers. They're probably my favourite detail!

The checkerboard was always part of the plan. I'm really inspired by Spanish handmade tiles and I love the way those little squares create a mosaic effect. They appear in lots of my work.

The vase was a little more spontaneous. I wanted to add texture without making it compete with the flowers, so I played with subtle variations of turquoise, adding checks, spots and zigzags.

I love how those golden flowers sit against the lilac, with the turquoise bringing everything together and the earthy checkerboard grounding the whole scene.

Where it lives best

I can imagine this one looking fabulous in a colourful kitchen, perhaps above a little breakfast nook where you sit with your morning coffee.

Its tall, narrow shape would also work beautifully between two doorways, beside a bookshelf or on a smaller living room wall that needs a bit of personality.

And I think she'd make lovely company in a home office or creative workspace, bringing her colourful, welcoming personality into the working day.