Back to travel and points of reference, my Himalayan Journeys

Image 1 Lfa News

Hope on the Mountains

As travel has not been possible in the last year or so (due to the pandemic) I have turned to travelling back in time to when this was possible, revisiting my many sketchbooks and photographs I have taken on my many travels world wide and in particular to Nepal with it’s amazing landscapes and high mountain peaks of which the two images I have selected reflect. The first image shows a sequence of my painting in stages of progression of Annapurna South (as viewed from the north) from Ghandruck and the second image shows my completed painting entitled: ‘Hope on the Mountains’ and as the title suggests the painting is about hope in solitude and the awe inspiring beauty of our natural world and how important it is to look after and protect it.  (Again this work is based on the Annapurna region of Nepal). I have just recently completed these two works. 

Like many artists I draw my inspiration from many sources including sketches, painted and drawn, photographs of which I take a minimum of 2,000 on each trip when I travel. For the two works I have selected here I have used my sketches and photographs taken on my four trips to the Nepal Himalayas. Once I have selected what I am going to paint using these sketches and photographs as a point of reference I quickly get started, working out and then mapping out the composition lightly in pencil as shown in the second image with a detail of “Hope on the Mountains”, Acrylic on board, shown on the right.   

I work very quickly to build up the surface picture (See image 1 stages) until the surface is covered I keep on working slowing down the paint application continually evaluating and refining the process until the finished result and work emerges.