The Whistling Signpost Photograph

Born 1955, Peterborough, UK. Lives and works in Polebrook, Northamptonshire. The subject of my work is the experience of being beneath an open sky, of walking the landscape and responding to its ever changing moods, scents, sounds, temperature and colour. However I work a triangular format, each causing a chain reaction with the other two; I work directly from the landscape, develop imagery associated with travel and make personal translations of workings from paintings of the Masters. I am directly influenced by the great tradition of Dutch and English landscape painting, in particular the work of Ruisdael and Turner. I also feel a strong and close affinity with oriental imagery and I acknowledge a great debt to the Japanese Master Utagawa Hiroshige. As a foot traveller I record my reactions to a place as an emotional sensation, I draw copiously and many notations and images are made on the spot before the motif. Canvas paintings however are studio based where the moment is relived and explored anew, the accumulation of notebook drawings and writings transporting me back in time and place as can a scent or a piece of music. In the studio the editing process can continue unhindered by the view, the abstract manipulation of paint takes priority and my contact with landscape becomes a spiritual rather than a physical association. I am more concerned with how it felt, than how it looked. Topographical information is important and so is the place that inspired the composition, but there is a human condition inherent too. Although the compositions can be appreciated for what they are, as paintings of landscape, there is another level. Much has happened in my life during recent years with regard to my health and my state of mind. The work therefore, both visually and through written word, can also be seen metaphorically. It is as much a reflection of me and of my place in the world, as it is about the place itself.
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