My paintings are essentially another element of my mountaineering life.
Mountain imagery has become the essential theme which inspires and directs my expressionistic interpretations in oil and mixed media. Although I have no formal training in art and my draughtsmanship is frankly poor; I feel that with oil paint,I can create my own unique impressions of a mountain environment which stylistically is in accord with my own personal taste in mountain art.That is, an abstract,
expressionism which has been used by artists such as Bill Peascod-See Journey after Bill on Book page- Peter Prendergast,the north Wales artist and James Dickson Innes,the Edwardian Fauverist whose own colourful impressions of the Welsh mountains complimented those of fellow Arenig School artist,Augustus John.
Skiddaw from Derwentwater: John Appleby,oil on board 24"x18"
The oil paints I use are basic student grade oils and I paint on hardboard as sold by all good DIY stores which I  batten for rigidity.The brushes I use are those inexpensive Chinese brushes which are widely available in market and stationary stores which I use with palette knives..I also occasionally use resin mixed with hardener and children's powder paint to create a quick setting medium which I use with oils in mixed media work.
Quite often I use a burning technique which was also used by Bill Peascod.Like BP I developed this technique by accident after I attempted to strip away freshly applied oils by pouring petrol on the board and setting fire to it ! The result can be seen above where the previous vibrant hues were transformed into more muted tones which were richly textured.
Bill Peascod Ullock Pike -The First Snow.mixed media 34"x38".
Peter Prendergast: Carneddi....oil on canvas
The two paintings shown here by Peter Prendergast and Bill Peascod are an example
of mountain/landscape artists who,I feel,are
truly at one with their subject matter.
Bill Peascods' Ullock Pike is muted in tone and delicate in texture whilst Peter Prendergast displays his customary boldness of execution with an inventive and daring use of colour in his
Carneddi
James Dickson Innes Arenig Sunset 1911-12. Oil on panel.9"x 13"
John Appleby Arenig Fawr. Oil on board
12"x 15".
John Appleby Moel Siabod oil on board.
24" x 18"
James Dickson Innes' Arenig Sunset can be contrasted with my own impression of Arenig Fawr on which I used the burning technique which I find is an exciting and unpredictable method of using oils.The same technique was used on
Moel Siabod.By contrast James Dickson Innes tiny oil panel is beautifully executed,evoking a perfect image of dusk in the mountains.
Another North Wales artist who captured the mountain environment in an inimitable way was John Petts whose drawings and engravings delicately captured the changing moods of the hills.Married to Brenda Chambelin,an artist and writer who presented a contrasting vibrancy in her bold,colourful paintings,John Petts's finely crafted work was widely used as book illustration material.
Cnicht by John Petts
Augustus John : Doreilia.
Oil on board
The Arenig School
Between 1910 and 1912,the increasingly highly regarded artist Augustus John was enticed to a remote part of north Wales by his friend and fellow artist James Dickson Innes.Innes had been seduced by the bleak beauty of the Migeneit.A vast rolling area of mountain and moorland between the market town of Bala and the slate mining town of Blaneau Ffestioniog. Like Innes,John was captivated by the area and he soon set work capturing the wild beauty of the migneint and in particular,the mountain
Arenig Fawr.
Working from a rented cottage,Nant Ddu,which stood beneath the western slopes of Arenig,Innes,John and later the Australian artist,Derwent Lees created a unique school of British landscape painting-The Arenig School.
Writing to his sister Gwen,Augustus wrote This cottage at Nant Ddu comanded a good view of Arenig and other heights.The lake of Tryweryn was at hand and in the distance the pyramids of the Moelwyns......I think Innes was never happier than when painting in this district....perceived by him as the reflection of some mysterious promised land.
In this period,Augustus John the larger than life bohemian and his delicate friend Innes-who was in fact to die young of Tuberculosis-with the Antipodean,Lees,created some inspiring landscapes and figurative oil paintings.Although it would only last two years or so,The Arenig School left us with a rich artistic legacy and they lived their lives as true romantics at a time when the romanticism of the past was sliding into a new world order of world war and rampant industrialization.
Images
Technique
Peter Predergast: Landscape near
Bethesda. oil on canvas