NUMINOUS LANDSCAPE

Studio Update - Works in progress

5th June 2022

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Hello, it's been a while. My intention of sending out two of these Numinous Landscape communications each month has not come to pass recently, something which I intend to rectify. Some ideas for forthcoming issues include: Digging into my recently unearthed degree dissertation from 2008 - Beginning With The Wound: Shamanism in Contemporary Art; thoughts around 'North' in relation to my work and life, with reference to Stranger In The Mask Of A Deer by Richard Skelton; musings on Arthur Machen and some curious connections; forays into the Black Mountains; and how to avoid becoming a 'lawyer in a shabby raincoat', something on Peter Kingsley and the nature of howling.

Here are images of what I have been working on recently. At the top is an acrylic on wood panel painting. For some time I have been intending to focus on a body of work that is more explicitly connected with my homeland of the South Downs. A constant source of inspiration, I feel the influence of this area weave through all of my work, but there is a desire to speak more directly to the 'South Country', perhaps as a counterpoint to the call of 'the North'. 

Immediately above is an image inspired by a specific moment. Driving back towards Newport at night, looking across the Usk valley to see the full moon resting on top of Wentwood Forest. This was a scene that the aforementioned Arthur Machen, a native of nearby Caerleon, would have relished. A long way to go with this one. The initial work with acrylic (on paper) is complete, and has already gone some way to conveying the feeling I wanted it to have, so I will need to be careful not to overwork it. Always a challenge...

Continuing on paper, back in the combination of acrylic and ink, these three seem to belong together. I have never been much inclined to systematically create work that fits together, but I do feel that I want to be a little more organised with it, partly in order to present the work in a more coherent way. So I plan to continue as I usually do, working on whatever I wish, but will only unveil images in groups that belong together in some way. Perhaps that might take the form of images that share a specific theme, or maybe the materials, techniques, or colour are what bind them. 

Inspirations

Ardian Gardner

It was an absolute pleasure to visit the studio of my pal Adrian Gardner, in Edinburgh a few weeks ago. A very dedicated painter, Adrian's work usually features landscape forms of varying kinds. I particularly enjoy some of his work that makes a foray into more mythic territory. In some recent images Adrian has been including the human figure, and these also struck me as very interesting because it brought a sense of the personal, familial, as unique lives set against the vast spans of deep time, which can be glimpsed when looking at mountains and rivers.

Tap any studio image to visit Adrian's website. He can also be found on Instagram: @here_is_ag

I was fortunate to see this piece, En Route, in the Royal Scottish Academy Annual Open Exhibition. The work featured amongst a striking collection of images, set against a blue wall. Click the image to visit this painting on the RSA website. The exhibition concludes on 12th June. 

Thank you for reading