Himalayas
In the Autumn of 2007 I trekked to Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar in Nepal. That was the beginning of this collection of paintings, starting with the small paintings which I made whilst there and leading to a year-long exploration in my studio of the light, the changing weather and the overwhelming scale and stark beauty of the landscape through which we trekked.Starting in the lush lands around Lukla, with green steep-sided valleys and rushing white water, the land became gradually more barren, dustier and stonier, hugely spacious and dotted with settlements with their coloured metal roofs. The path frequently passed prayer wheels and stupas, and brightly coloured prayer flags were everywhere, simply part of the landscape. The rich intense blue of the sky gave way to swirling clouds blowing through in the late afternoons, by turns covering and revealing the soaring mountains around us.
Whilst in Nepal I kept a diary and painted almost every day of the trek, and I have made these small paintings into prints, working on top of each to recall the spontaneity of painting on site. I also used them extensively to make the other larger works back in the studio.