Artwork · Oil paintings & pastels
When I first started painting I always felt 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 lockdown — then I realised that 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.
Oil · 2022 · Garhwal Himalaya, India
I painted this from a photograph shared with me by Anindya Mukherjee, as we worked together on a piece he wrote for the 2022 edition of The Himalayan Journal. I guest edited this edition of the journal and from afar got a little obsessed with Nanda Devi as I was doing so.
Oil · 2022 · Garhwal Himalaya, India
This scene is from a photograph featured in John Porter’s book One Day As A Tiger. As I was reading the book, inspired by John’s account of his climb of Changabang along with his descriptions of the intensity of the Nanda Devi Mela — the annual spiritual festival of the mountain — I found myself painting it. It then featured on the front cover of the 2022 edition of The Himalayan Journal.
Pastel · 2023 · Dolomites, Italy
Earlier this year I found myself thinking a lot 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 had visited 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, 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.
Oil · 2022 · Dolomites, Italy
I met the photographer 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. A legend of a photographer from Nashville, he is also a great cook with a wry, dry sense of humour, and I enjoyed his company enormously.
In summer 2022 Jim spent some time in Italy and hiked in the Dolomites. He posted some wonderful photographs and kindly let me paint from them.
Pastel · 2022 · Isle of Arran, Scotland
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 at North Sannox and I had a glorious trip up over Cir Mhor and Goatfell, descending to Corrie where we were staying. The light was fantastic and I loved remembering the whole experience as I made this sketch over a few dark and wet evenings the following winter.
Oil · 2022 · Banff, Canada
I visited Lake Louise in November 2021 — a forty-minute bus ride from Banff, where I was at the Mountain Festival. The scene is iconic and much photographed; after taking a few of my own, I ran along the lakeside 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 icefalls 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.
Pastel · 2022 · Helvellyn, Lake District
In December 2022 we had a spell of clear cold weather and I took a break from the day-job for a trip to the Lake District. I’d been post-Covid for a fair while and 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 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 of the pastel on it — really interesting, and a great contrast to working in oils.
Oil · Tibet
Kailash is a summit sacred in four religions. Mountaineers do not climb the mountain and pilgrims make journeys around her.