The Importance of Light

Light is an essential element within my work. I'm obsessed with it, especially soft ethereal light, back lit grasses on a summer's evening and low winter light through the woods.
I'm an abstract landscape artist living close to Haworth moor which provides inspiration and a starting point for a lot of my art. The changing light throughout the day, months and seasons is a constant fascination and inevitably feeds into my paintings and ceramic work.
I frequently head up to the moor to gaze at the sky and light on the land. Around the mid-summer Solstice, I usually wake around 4am and go there. Watching the first rays of sun lighting up the landscape whilst listening to the birds is a privilege. I have vivid memories of these mornings, once a barn owl flew directly above my head whilst the sky appeared to be on fire. This year I saw a young deer bouncing away through the long grass after staring at me for a while, the light was sharp and new. Being alone helps to tune into that otherworldly feeling of being in wide open or ancient spaces, the idea of thin places, liminal spaces and imaginings of how our ancestors would have relied on natural light and seen so much more of the night sky than most modern humans.

I see light as a sign of hope, a chink of white through the huge grey Yorkshire skies. The drama of a summer sunset when the light descends late in the evening, the magical light of a full moon and softness of a gentle winter sunrise. All these elements have become paintings time and time again, as if I'm searching for something.
There are obvious differences in light levels throughout the seasons as well as the time of day which brings a huge diversity in colour. One of my favourite obsessions is to mix oil paint echoing the colours of the land and sky depending on the season, a tangible connection between the living landscape and an emerging painting on canvas or board.

A trip to Andalusia in January 2024 has stayed with me and shown up in new work. Going from the darkness of a South Pennine winter to the brightness of an expansive beach in Conil was breathtaking. I remember walking for miles suspended in an otherworldly environment where the sky, sea and sand blended into one silvery all encompassing experience. Among many other memories of this wonderful winter trip, I remember visiting Jerez Cathedral late one afternoon just as the sun shone through a high window and purposely lit up a particular gold altar. Although loaded with contradictions of the whys and wherefores of how that gold was there in the first place, it nevertheless filled me with awe and a vision I will never forget.

On a personal level I've learnt to spend the first minutes after waking outdoors with a cuppa, reaping the benefits of morning light which definitely increases my energy throughout the day and makes me sleep really well, who knew!