The following statement and collection of paintings were part of the Bridge House Art portfolio course exhibition ‘Leap’ in March 2020.
The Mountains Are Calling
“The mountains are calling and I must go”- John Muir
Having been brought up in an enthusiastic outdoors family, I was heading up hills in my parents’ backpack before I could walk. And when I could walk, I was motivated by tales of Mountain Gods who left chocolate at the top for small children; stories which created a sense of magic and mystery that still resonates with me to this day, even though I quickly suspected my parents being the source material of the chocolate! The mountains are magical places. When it snows and you’re in a winter wonderland and when the sun shines so bright that the mica in the rock sparkles, you feel as though you could be in paradise.
In my teens I took up running. Cross country running initially, but then the idea of hill running caught my attention; lightweight running up hills with only trainers and a bum bag was a wild notion that seemed almost impossible to me. So, I entered a few hill races as soon as I was eligible and fell in love with the mountains once more. Moving quickly over challenging terrain and being unencumbered by heavy kit felt amazing.
My passion for the hills, the outdoors, and even other outdoor sports such as rock climbing, has fuelled most of my artwork in the past and inspires me in the present. For this group of paintings, I started looking closely at terrain, as terrain is pretty much all I am seeing when running. Concentrating hard on foot placements seemed a natural place to start. After developing some patterned black and white drawings I decided I wanted to integrate these into images of the larger landscape I stop to appreciate when I take a break. Examining the micro flora and fauna and then painting in the macro, on such a scale has been exciting and challenging for me. I want the viewer to feel that they can ‘walk in’ to my paintings and that maybe they will be inspired to take a stroll, and see where the mountain track may take you…