Original artwork description:

Normanton Church Rutland Water

I began this painting on location at Rutland water, there is a beautiful church dating back to the 18th Century. It was October and chilly day with a heavy gloomy sky, the beach was strewn with dry leaves and the water level was a little low and the whole place felt a bit like time had stood still.
A couple of months later in the studio, I added the figure and the dog, it felt like the themes of the painting had now become fully realised; companionship, melancholy, the long processes of nature all under the umbrella of the split willow tree with various broken branches. I don’t know if these are sacred themes, however I would say that companionship is essential to well being, melancholy makes us aware of the passing of time and often comes from regretting the things we have lost, being close to the long processes of nature makes us feel very small against the tangle vastness of the world and this terrible encounter I also somehow find energising. Looking now at the completed painting I can see that the tree becomes a catalyst for the meditation on these broad themes.

Materials used:

acrylic

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