Out of the labyrinth Print

This is part of a series of works inspired by Beacon Hill in Leicestershire, UK. It’s an area that I have visited many times over a period of about 40 years. As an art student I spent a lot of happy hours sketching, taking photos and playing guitar there. Now I visit all year round, watching the changing seasons, still sketching and taking photos but now I take the dog instead of the guitar. Some of the series is totally abstract while others are closer to recognisable landscapes. I want to express the feel and mood of the place rather than depict a specific location. The work is probably more about my internal thoughts than the external view. I think of them as dreamscapes. As such the landscape is simply a starting point for the work and the finished paintings are universal. This one was inspired by rhododendron petals falling through the air that I encountered on a path leading through a tangle of branches. I love finding small details in vast landscapes that invite us to contemplate spirituality, nature and our own place in it. Oil paint is applied in many thin glazes over a wooden panel. The glazes of oil paint create a semi-translucent surface revealing subtle colour variations with prolonged viewing. There are also asemic, calligraphic-like marks representing the music branching off on tangents. My main references are Bosch, El Greco, Turner and contemporary artists Chu Te Chun, Zao Wou-Ki and Cruz Jimenez. I hope the viewer finds a sense of both peace and movement and can feel something of the flow of energy through the universe.