The Moors Series are 4 large 1m sq oil paintings represeting the essence and sensations of experiencing the north yorkshire moors throughout the seasons :
The moors series is imagination combined with experience and littered with inspiration from many sources; found images, other artists, feelings and emotions along with a vision and gut feeling that plagued me, nudged me night and day to get them “right”.Inspired by Anselm Kiefer’s philosophy, along with his visionary scenes, these crystalize my intent as he says the key is to:“emphasise the space of painting as a threshold into a mythic, imaginative realm.” And “I am only able to do what stirs me. I want to perceive with my senses things which at the moment are not generally perceived” This is essentially symbolist:“Painting should not aim at…recording the facts of nature, but should content with moulding our moods and stirring our imagination” (Thompson) Colour was of supreme importance in generating the sensation of the seasons. Rothko is master of making colour a presence in itself. The theory of colour and its psychological and spiritual effects can never reach a solid universal conclusion but Rothko’s work shows that colour has huge emotional impact. He also said:“I think of my pictures as dramas…They begin an unknown adventure in an unknown space, to a place for numinous encounters, spiritual explorations.” And this is something I would aim to achieve with my work, for those who are so inclined to seek such experiences.
Winter:
The seasons correspond with the elements, winter is the season of earth- bleak, hidden, internal- gone to ground as we do against the cold and dark. This stark monochrome image is the basis for the series, stripped back to the bare bones, just like winter. Beautifully harsh.
Spring:
Cool, fresh, breezy, open. There’s still a harshness, this spring has a biting wind, the chill of dawn, spoken of in the colours and the composition, the vast wide vista, the short herbage, but it's filled with the promise of verdance, there’s a hope to it, a fecundity. This work used palette knives to give a sharpness and a contemporary look that spoke to me of the season.
Midsummers eve:
Unashamedly romantic, passionate, dreamy and warm. I am in love with the moors, in all seasons but this season has the most accessible, connectible symbols associated with love, the warm colours and soft, inviting forms, cosseted. Crepuscular, a twilight tryst, a departure point for fantasy.
Autumn: (sold)
Autumn conjures up auburn smouldering. Halloween colours and damp deluges. Whisky and weather. The shoulders of the moors grew to highland peaks to contain the flow of seasonal downpours from heavy, pregnant skies. And the foliage displays a fiery death, passion spent. The moors series is a culmination of colour theory in practice, a fusion of sight and feeling. The frame work essentially the same but the intent, the expression, the mood and meaning are distinct. The square shape gives a contemporary edge.
The moors series is imagination combined with experience and littered with inspiration from many sources; found images, other artists, feelings and emotions along with a vision and gut feeling that plagued me, nudged me night and day to get them “right”.Inspired by Anselm Kiefer’s philosophy, along with his visionary scenes, these crystalize my intent as he says the key is to:“emphasise the space of painting as a threshold into a mythic, imaginative realm.” And “I am only able to do what stirs me. I want to perceive with my senses things which at the moment are not generally perceived” This is essentially symbolist:“Painting should not aim at…recording the facts of nature, but should content with moulding our moods and stirring our imagination” (Thompson) Colour was of supreme importance in generating the sensation of the seasons. Rothko is master of making colour a presence in itself. The theory of colour and its psychological and spiritual effects can never reach a solid universal conclusion but Rothko’s work shows that colour has huge emotional impact. He also said:“I think of my pictures as dramas…They begin an unknown adventure in an unknown space, to a place for numinous encounters, spiritual explorations.” And this is something I would aim to achieve with my work, for those who are so inclined to seek such experiences.
Winter:
The seasons correspond with the elements, winter is the season of earth- bleak, hidden, internal- gone to ground as we do against the cold and dark. This stark monochrome image is the basis for the series, stripped back to the bare bones, just like winter. Beautifully harsh.
Spring:
Cool, fresh, breezy, open. There’s still a harshness, this spring has a biting wind, the chill of dawn, spoken of in the colours and the composition, the vast wide vista, the short herbage, but it's filled with the promise of verdance, there’s a hope to it, a fecundity. This work used palette knives to give a sharpness and a contemporary look that spoke to me of the season.
Midsummers eve:
Unashamedly romantic, passionate, dreamy and warm. I am in love with the moors, in all seasons but this season has the most accessible, connectible symbols associated with love, the warm colours and soft, inviting forms, cosseted. Crepuscular, a twilight tryst, a departure point for fantasy.
Autumn: (sold)
Autumn conjures up auburn smouldering. Halloween colours and damp deluges. Whisky and weather. The shoulders of the moors grew to highland peaks to contain the flow of seasonal downpours from heavy, pregnant skies. And the foliage displays a fiery death, passion spent. The moors series is a culmination of colour theory in practice, a fusion of sight and feeling. The frame work essentially the same but the intent, the expression, the mood and meaning are distinct. The square shape gives a contemporary edge.
