Contours of landscape

The contours of the landscapes that we live, work and move in, are among the great fascinations and challenges for me in painting. Combined with the amazing patterns of colour, texture and light that we get in each season here in Southern Ireland there is also a great mystique and attraction in the rural landscapes and the coastal scenes that capture the eye.
It gives great scope to use a rich palette of colours and a wide variety of brush strokes and textures to capture the rough and the smooth, the light and dark in the glens and valleys, hills and mountains, crashing waves and steep sea cliffs of the Cork/Kerry landscape.
One of my favourite memories of a day spent with my family was a summer's afternoon spent climbing Mount Brandon on the Dingle Peninsula. It was a beautiful sunny day with a pleasant cooling breeze to ease our passage up the mountain. As we got higher and higher it was fabulous to take a breather and survey the fantastic landscape that unfolded beneath us. The contrast in texture between the smoothness of the sea and the roughness of the cliffs on the rugged Corca Dhuibhne coast was a real thrill and challenge for any artist planning to capture such a beautiful scene on canvas.
The blues and geens of the sea water set off the greens, browns and purples of the fields, bogs and mountain-side that made such an intriguing tapestry of colours before us.
Such colours and patterns seemed to swamp my mind and I could not wait to get out my brushes and canvas to try and capture that wondeful afternoon spent with my family.

The painting that captures all this for me I have titled " From the deep blue sea to the purple mountain".  I am very happy with the contour lines in the painitng that reveal the richness and colour in the many layers of that much loved landscape.