Liathach
120cm x 100cm
Acrylic on canvas
My style of painting is informed from my past experience as a geologist and from mountaineering and climbing. In every case, I am always drawn to the structure of the rocks.
As with the classic scramble of Liathach, Summer conditions allow for the more subtle variations in colour, texture and structure of rocks to be seen and appreciated—features that, for different reasons, a geologist or a climber would pay close attention to. In this fashion, I typically exclude the sky whilst concentrating on the features within the rocks as a means of drawing the viewer’s attention to the crag, rock face or mountain side itself, for they are often distant in paintings, not telling the story of the landscape from the perspective of the rock itself. It is my wish to subvert this: I want the rock to get the viewer’s full undivided attention, in much the same way a climber or geologist would!
Tower Gap
42cm x 30cm
Acrylic on Board
For me, all rocks tell a story, and it is these stories that define our landscapes and how we interact with them. Ultimately, this is what informs my paintings.
Winter almost acts like a filter—the ice and snow distil the rock face down to its grand structural features which makes for a really striking scene with lots of contrast. In these winter scenes, I hope to convey not only the geological story contained within the rock but also my feelings when I visit such spectacular places. For me, climbing and hiking in the winter evokes a strong sense of escapism, a feeling of being transported to another world; one that is remote and breathtakingly beautiful, but a world that is also wild and untamed, requiring one’s undivided attention and respect.
Church Door Buttress
76cm x 60cm
Acrylic on canvas
Dumby
76cm x 60cm
Acrylic on canvas
The places that inspire my work each have a unique character of their own. Dumbarton Rock, for example, feels inviting and social. Maybe it’s the beautiful orange-to-gold colours of the basalt as the crag gets the afternoon sun, or is it the groups of friends gathered around routes helping each other to send those boulder problems or get past the crux on the climbing routes? Most likely it is both!
A compact crag not far from civilization with its historic castle, Dumbarton—or ‘Dumby’ as the locals call it—has a strong connection to the people that climb there and it is my hope that my work, in some small way, captures the character of this iconic Scottish crag.
Contrast Dumbarton Rock with a trip to the towering Triple Buttress of Coire Mhic Fhearchair and the experience is altogether different—remote, wild, inspiring and even a little intimidating. Here, I feel the sense of scale, and the strong lines present across the rockface make Triple Buttress an outstanding winter climbing venue.
Triple Buttress
120cm x 100cm
Acrylic on canvas
In my last example, the Castle of Yesnaby sea stack off the coast of Orkney, one is faced with a rock formation that lays bare its complete life story before finally succumbing to the sea; one last defiant, proud stand against the elements, a situation irresistibly compelling to me as a geologist painter, and yet another example of the seemingly limitless variety that exists within the geological landscape of Scotland. I feel that it is precisely this variety that makes climbing and hillwalking in Scotland so enjoyable.
For me, all rocks tell a story, and it is these stories that define our landscapes and how we interact with them. Ultimately, this is what informs my paintings.
Yesnaby Castle
50cm x 70cm
Acrylic on canvas