Rowena had always been struck by Kandinsky. Yet only late in life did she draw on him for inspiration. Although arthritis and other ailments had made painting painful, what she created was strikingly joyous. It remained so until the very day before she died.

Rowena’s life was fundamentally touched by the loss of her daughter Joanna when she died aged sixteen. In the years that followed. These works came from that loss.

At Knepp, Rowena met a dawn moth surveyor and was instantly captivated by the variety and quiet magic of these nocturnal insects. She soon set up her own moth trap in Somerset to study them closely, and the moth became a recurring source of wonder — a creature of transformation and night‑time mystery.

The Shave Farm dairy was one of sixteen in the parish. The mountains of manure available to dig into its clay soils were rich in worms, which contributed to the nutrient‑rich humus needed for a fertile vegetable garden.

We added to them by making compost and by turning over molehills. And every time we harvested our next meal, Rowena focused on its earthworm origins.