A contended couple embrace on a wooden bench positioned on a cliff top overlooking a picturesque bay, watching as the world goes by and talking the talk that lovers do. small talk, big talk, chit chat, gossip, rumour-mongering and conjecture will all be aired and vocally dissected, in betwixt moment of calm and reflection and untold silence. The silence that comes when two people are that comfortable in each other’s company. Celebrated contemporary landscape artist, Mike Jackson is a past master at illustratively picturing lovers – in various stage of discreet and socially-acceptable – embrace, set to the backdrop of a relaxing, tranquil coastal vista. Activity in Jackson’s historical panoramas are usually racked up a notch or three, with this, his latest pictorial observation, focusing primarily on the bench-dwelling couple seated in the foreground; lost in each other’s everything. Beautifully, explicitly saturated and hued of colour and shade, countered with a considered balance and weight conspire to make for a Jackson classic.