Mists And Mellow fruitfulness at Kevis House Gallery

"Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness" was the title Kevis House gave to this group exhibition and it suits this current body of work very well.

During Lockdown I could not travel to the wilderness I love to paint so I started to do small paintings from my imagination. The subject matter remained landscape but not based on any exact location. Released, I travelled Britain and Europe for a few months early this year. This body of work  is a combination of old methods of working in the landscape and my last collection of imagined landscapes. See "Liberating Landscapes"

Many of these works are inspired by a spring in Italy, I made tiny quick watercolour sketches on site to fix the image in my mind, then returned to the studio to make paintings from memory and further simplify the landscape. Intending to give the essence of the place, to touch on the maybe, without spelling it out. Leaving the details and place to the viewers interpretation.

I want to create a feeling of stillness in the light, the mood, the air and weather. Seeing the landscape appear and disappear in the mist and rain where horizons are hazy and the sunlight soft and fleeting. Looking for the light within cloud covered lands, finding beauty in moody weather and desolate empty places.

My work remains about the love of the natural world, taking the observer away from urban life and reflect on the importance of retaining wild uncultivated places. It is my way of responding to the spirit that rolls through all things and answer to my passion for untouched spaces.