How to Spend it in July

Christabel Blackburn often paints solitary women: against the backdrop of a terracotta building, a lush green garden, a teal swimming pool or a cool, empty art gallery. Her latest body of work, on display in a solo show at Gillian Jason Gallery in London, draws inspiration from the city streets of Los Angeles and the surrounding mountains and deserts of California. “Each solitary figure is surrounded by bright, clean colours, creating a cheerful exterior in a perpetually sunny world,” says the London-based painter. “But the lack of other people or cars and an abundance of space puts a chink in the perfection.”