I saw this ivy against a white painted wall today on my way down to the Co-op and was struck by the dark green, tan, maroon and white colour combination. I don’t often feel compelled to take a photo like this. But when I got the March IKON Gallery programme (contemporary art gallery in Bham) I had the same feeling about the front cover, which is a painting by Clare Rojas.  That time, it was the black, grape and dark green/yellow of one of her folk-inspired, bold compositions which caught my eye.

I’m pretty sad that I missed the Rojas exhibition at IKON – her paintings were hung beautifully both in a row of different sized frames and also covering a whole room. Her work is a great combination of flat colour and pattern – and a specially commissioned work explored how her compositions often dissolve into abstration. She cut up and repositioned parts of her paintings to make a large mosaic. She had also painted banjos which look lovely. I love her music too and it goes so well alongside her work – the video that IKON produced to sum up the exhibition shows her performing -  definitely worth a look.