With an exclusive artwork, David Hockney features on the cover of the Telegraph Magazine

David Hockney has been lifting spirits around the world with his colourful observations on nature as quarantine persists. At the beginning of April, the renowned artist delighted the nation with an iPad painting of fresh daffodils titled Do remember they can’t cancel the spring. Now, nearly two months later, the artist from Bradford, West Yorkshire is appearing on the cover of tomorrow’s Telegraph Magazine. With creative direction from Kuchar Swara, graphic design by Will Martin and the overall issue edited by Marianne Jones, the joyful scene of Normandy’s glowing sky is Hockney’s latest public foray into sharing the work he has been making during lockdown.

The cover features an exclusive artwork by the man perhaps best known for his 1972 painting Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) and A Bigger Splash from 1967 and, in recent years, for his new creative lease on the iPad. In this atmospheric depiction of the warm summer evenings we have been lucky enough to experience these past few weeks, Hockney demonstrates his masterful touch with digital media.

Currently residing in Normandy, the 82-year-old shared ten exclusive new pieces with the BBC as “a respite from the news” at the same time as Do remember they can’t cancel the spring. There, he has been capturing the range of blossoms unfolding along with the apple, cherry, pear and plum trees coming into season. He told the BBC: “I began drawing the winter trees on a new iPad. Then this virus started… I went on drawing the winter trees that eventually burst into blossom… Meanwhile, the virus is going mad, and many people said my drawings were a great respite from what was going on.”