Oil Paintings and Pastels

These oil paintings and pastels are some of my newest work. When I first started painting I always felt like I needed to paint places I had been to and experienced for myself. More recently I've relented and now also work from photographs by other people as well as my own. To begin with this was due to Covid lockdown. But then I realised painting and sketching is a way of going places in my mind, and that working from the mountain experiences of others is another wonderful source of inspiration. I have since carried on visiting them in this way.

Nanda Devi from Changabang

This photograph is featured in John Porter's book One Day As A Tiger. As I was reading this book last year, inspired by John's writing of his climb of Changabang, along with his descriptions of the intensity of the Nanda Devi Mella - the annual spiritual festival of the mountain, I found myself painting this scene from his photograph. It then featured on the front cover of the 2022 edtion of The Himalayan Journal.

The original is available, please contact me if you are interested.

Sasso Lungo

Earlier this year I found myself thinking lots about the Dolomites and Julian Alps. I read a remarkable book - Rombo by the German author Esther Kinsky that took me back to north-east Italy and Slovenia, places I have visited, albeit years ago. Then I started sketching them in pastels and painting them in oils. This pastel is one of the first I did. It's of Sasso Lungo and I worked from a photograph kindly shared with me on twitter by Tim Halsey.

After a few pastels, a couple of oil paintings, the intense experience of reading the wonderful Rombo and remembering my own visits here I booked a family holiday to go back in the summer :o)

The original is available, please contact me if you are interested.

Above Refugio Boé, Dolomites

I met Jim Herrington when I was at the Banff Mountain Festival in 2021. Jim was on the film jury and I was on the book jury. Jim is a legend of a photographer from Nashville who is also a great cook and has a wry, dry sense of humour. I enjoyed spending time with him during the festival enormously.

In summer 2022 Jim spent some time in Italy and hiked in the Dolomites. He posted some wonderful photographs on his instagram and kindly let me paint from them.

The original is available, please contact me if you are interested.

Chir Mor and Goatfell, Arran

This pastel sketch is inspired by one of my own photographs. In June 2022 I had a holiday on Arran with my family. We've visited the island quite a few times, it's a great place for family adventures as well as shortish runs up into the mountains. One evening they dropped me in North Sannox and I had a glorious trip up over Cir Mor and Goatfell to descend off the hills to Corrie where we were staying. The light was fantastic and I loved remembering the whole experience as I did this sketch over a few dark and wet evenings the following winter.

The original is available. Please contact me if you are interested.

Lake Louise

I visited Lake Louise in November 2021. It's a 40 minute bus ride from Banff, where I was visting for the Mountain Festival. This scene is iconic and very photographed, after taking a few of my own, I ran along the lakeside, heading towards the head of the lake shown in the painting. From there it became a plod through deepening snow up to a teahouse that wasn't open so I just sat and looked at the view for a while. Frozen ice-falls hanging down the cliffs that rimmed the hanging valley glistened blue-white. I knew I would be painting at least one of these scenes when I got back home to Yorkshire.

The original is available, please contact me if you are interested.

Striding and Swirrel Edges

In December 2022 we had a spell of clear cold weather and I took a break from my day-job for a trip to the Lake District. I'd been post-Covid for a fair while and so was really happy to feel well enough to do the round of Helvellyn from Glenridding, up along Striding Edge and back down along Swirrel Edge. The low light of early winter made the shadows long, I loved the contrasts in colours and feeling between the warm and cold sides of these ridges - on one side darkness, whites and blues, the other rich greens, golden yellows and ochres.

These are some of my earliest pastels. I found working with them - the rough texture of the pastel card and the 'pliability' (think that's a word) of the pastel on the card to be really interesting, a great contrast to working in oils.

The originals are available, please contact me if you are interested.

Mount Kailash, Tibet

Kailash is a summit that's sacred in four religions. Mountaineers do not climb it, pilgrims make journeys to it

The original is available. Please contact me if you are interested.