I can almost feel the warm southern American breeze flowing through his paintbrush, can you?

These dazzling scenes are the work of African-American artist, Jonathan Green, whose name I’m going to drop at my next socially distanced get together. He lives in America’s Deep South – in a place called Beaufort, on the South Carolina Sea Island, to be precise. His incredible vibrantly coloured sets of paintings celebrate the everyday lives, culture and heritage within his community. Sadly, it’s a way of life that’s slowly disappearing as the younger generations flee country for city life, which makes his work all the more vital as a way of documenting this community’s heritage.

According to this brilliant article, he paints entirely from his imagination, from childhood memories and detailed observations. He doesn’t look at one photograph!

Apparently he arranges his work into series consisting of 10 to 30 pieces, “like chapters in a book telling a single story”. And when it comes to the actual process of painting, he’s meticulous in the planning, starting with thoughts, then drawings, and watercolours, before finally the canvasses at which point most of the thinking is done.