#pathtoahigherplane – mystery and beauty of mountains
Monte Catria, a high peak in the Appenine mountains in north eastern Italy, provided inspiration for Dante’s Paradiso, the third part of his Divine Comedy. He wrote several verses while living at the Hermitage at Fonte Avellana, a monastery built into the lower slopes of the majestic Monte Catria. Wild flowers grow in abundance here in the spring and cattle graze the high pastures in the summer months, while winter sees the mountain shrouded in snow.
Monte Catria Study #06: Monte Catria shows off its constantly changing faces and moods – an irresistible challenge for the artist – July 2011 – 30 x 40 cm / 16″ x 12″ [Cat:751]Even if I had not known about the Dante connection, I would still have been inspired by this mountain. It has a complicated geometry, and the endless variety of angles and the interplay of light engages my interest. Some years ago while staying nearby (and at a great vantage point), I was able to track the changes on the mountain throughout the day in a series of paintings that reflect this diversity. They represent my attempt to capture some of the mystery and beauty of this magical place.
Monte Catria Study #08: Monte Catria shows off its constantly changing faces and moods – an irresistible challenge for the artist – July 2011 – 30 x 40 cm / 16″ x 12″ [Cat:753]Monte Catria Study #09: Monte Catria shows off its constantly changing faces and moods – an irresistible challenge for the artist – July 2011 – 30 x 40 cm [Cat:754]
This abandoned and rusting fuse box in a parking lot caught my eye. All the fuses have been removed, rendering it redundant, stripped of its power. Even knowing this, the red wiring appears as a warning to the unwary.
Red wires looking alive [Cat: (13) FINGERTIP POWER 001]
The wheat harvest has been poor this year and I suspect that the farmer has abandoned this field and will plough the crop back into the soil in the spring. The weather has altered this landscape but in a subtle and unexpected way.
A single tree silhouetted on the skyline is a trope of loneliness, but that does not diminish the power of such an image as a single tree is the sole survivor of a onetime forest. Trees do not grow in isolation; they are social beings that benefit from being in numbers, and we mammals have a close association and long-standing interdependence with them, as it was their early presence on the planet that exchanged the carbon-filled atmosphere for life-giving oxygen.
It is this close relationship that I like to explore in my studies of trees, bark, leaves and forests.
Olive Tree South: An old olive tree growing near the coast, its boughs swept into an elaborate ‘hair style’ by the prevailing winds – July 2004 – 40 x 30 cm / 16″ x 12″ [Cat:730]Trees is part of a series of works inspired by nature. While they provide life-long sources of interest, these subjects ultimately form the basis of my abstract paintings which are both hard-edged and yet fluid in appearance. Trees focuses on the endless variety in our woodlands and forests, constantly changing in form and appearance throughout the year.
Open Hearted Tree: A tree, its trunk completely hollowed out and yet continuing to support a healthy crown of leaves – June 2016 – 40 x 30 cm / 16″ x 12″ [Cat:733]
Coastal regions where gales often lash the landscape have a character of their own, and one particular favourite is the Pas de Calais where the trees that have survived have bent to the prevailing winds. Trying to capture this landscape without taming it provides an intriguing challenge.
Autumn landscape photography [Cat: 16/100, Tree Lined Road, 1 mp / 769 x 576 pixel, Digital Photography, 2004]
Cycladic fertility figures are fascinatingly androgynous compared with the Venus of Willendorf and more familiar depictions of fertility by early artists, but they are no less appealing in form and they catch the attention of museum goers.
After fuelling my own fascination with drawings and models, I now want to bring them alive in a 3D animation to explore how they would move, speak, and what personality characteristics would suit their intriguing body shapes.
Various cross section modular profiles for 3D modelling [Cat: 0000, Cycladic Women, Scalable / Digital vector, Illustrator, 2008]
To talk about man’s relationship with nature (the environment) is a good place to start understanding how we react with what surrounds us. We are as much a part of ‘nature’ as a bee gathering pollen or a frilled shark grazing on the ocean floor.
The four paintings in the East Dean Quartet explore themes of birth, discovery, power and fate.
Sheltered places, easily defended are the most desirable habitats [Cat: 0555, East Dean Quartet # 01, 30 x 40” / 76 x 101 cm, oil on canvas, 2015]As night draws in people return to the comfort and security of their homes to feel safe during the hours of darkness [Cat: 0554, East Dean Quartet # 01, 30 x 40” / 76 x 101 cm, oil on canvas, 2015]Beautiful places attract many visitors and leave their footprint however carefully they behave [Cat: 0553, East Dean Quartet # 01, 30 x 40” / 76 x 101 cm, oil on canvas, 2015]Landscape and environment shaped by man and home to all living things [Cat: 0552, East Dean Quartet # 01, 30 x 40” / 76 x 101 cm, oil on canvas, 2015]
Paintings of the early Renaissance have always held a fascination for me. While the colours and artistry are brilliant, it is the compositions that hold my attention. The scenes are deliberately posed in a way prescient of photography, but photography with a difference where the perspective and scale can be manipulated to carefully compose the scene.
In this project I am attempting to visualise the way in which the scene is constructed outside the frame imposed by the artist – in other words, what it is that they did not want us to see.
Prototype re-creation of Fra Fillipo Lippi ‘Annunciation of the Virgin” [Cat: 20/9999, Untitled, / 5312 x 2988 pixel, 3D Digital, 20012]
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