Over the past nine months I have been painting vast mountainous landscapes and have fallen in love exploring nuances within the subject.
My painting processes have expanded beyond the traditional; I'm now using a paint roller to cover vast swathes of canvas with colour and a palette knife to create satisfying textural marks which describe natural forms with rugged accuracy.
To share a little of my past inspiration. I was taken by the Abstract Expressionism exhibition at the Royal Academy in 2017. I loved how each mark was created in a way that revealed the force of the artist’s hand. It was a celebration of materiality, with broad fields of colour indulging the viewer with raw spontaneity.
I feel liberated with my new processes, which allows me to create energetic abstract expressionist marks that faithfully portray my subject. I have always admired art which walks the line between reality and abstraction, and I aim to take this series closer to that boundary.
Prior to painting mountains, I was absorbed by urban landscapes and the dynamic nature of crowds. Now, after nearly a year of lockdowns my usual busy subject matter has been few and far between. The pandemic has reminded us of society’s fragilities and during this time of uncertainty, I found space to reflect in the solitude of nature. My twenties were home to a number of mountain expeditions in the Himalayas and Andes. Now I am returning to these experiences with my brushes, reminding myself of the vastness of the world beyond city walls.
Whilst taking a look at artists who have explored our relationship with nature I found an iconic painting (below) by Romanticist painter Casper David Friedrich titled, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818). Historian John Lewis Gaddis wrote that the position of the wanderer upon the mountain "is contradictory, suggesting at once mastery over a landscape and the insignificance of the individual within it". On reading this description I couldn’t help but smile at the discovery of this romantic motif which has been perpetuated through popular culture and now, some 200 years later, has been born into my work.
Wanderer above the sea of fog, 1818 | Casper David Friedrich | 95 x 75 cm
Cloud Nine, 2020 | Oil on canvas | 120 x 80 cm | Available
Going forward this year aim to continue creating paintings which explore and connect to our relationship with nature. Currently I am working with a multitude of photographers to source my images until the opportunity presents itself to travel to the mountains and capture scenes from life.