Transverse Waves

A collection of acrylic paintings on acrylic sheet (Perspex). 

My eyes are busy decoding sunlight coming through Ling Jie's kitchen window, and bouncing up from the plastic tablecloth to give me a vision of the brightly coloured design. We're making dumplings together, it's something we do. I knead and roll out the pastry, while she makes the filling from the wild garlic leaves we picked by the river Mersey; they're so fragrant in the spring.

We're sat in our usual places, amongst familiar devices - I'm on the living room side facing the kitchen so Ling Jie can look over my shoulder at the TV. On her right is the microwave oven, to the left her laptop, iPad and router. Our smartphones are on the table, gradually becoming dusted over with flour. As we chat and prepare the food, I try to picture the invisible waves flowing around us.

Ling Jie starts to boil the dumplings as I make the dipping sauce (crushed garlic in Chinese vinegar). She's an astrophysicist by profession, so I can ask dumb questions e.g. "if it were possible for us to see electromagnetic waves on a two dimensional plane, would we see the surface of an ocean"? She pauses to envision the idea, then says "yes, that is how it would be".

J.E.W.