from the top

Above the gill is an area marked on the map as Windy Brow. It's an apt name. The brow forms the border of a rough and disorganised plateau which spills from the northern slopes of Burnhope Seat, where wind and water scourge the rock, peat and plantlife.  Often, the horizon between earth and sky is as indistinct as the difference between the surface and the peaty shale and hard rock of its underground world.

As you approach the top of the gill, you get a sense that the elements are becoming more resolved; that light, water and earth begin to take on more distict forms.

There's a kind of triumph when water gushes out again from a dark channel in the earth, glistening and dancing over rocks and between tree limbs. The water washes out minerals and fertilises the surrounding sodden ground, stimulating fresh new growth and attracting insects, small reptiles and birds.

The act of reflection since my last trip to the shelter has been essential in the completion of these three paintings.