Trundling along heading in the right direction
Keep following those paths to get to where you want to be
Some people like nice clothes and exotic holidays. Whilst these can be wonderful I’m attracted to walking along a country path. Whatever floats your boat or tickles your fancy! The simple footpath has become a significant focal point for me in my art.
There are several reasons I like a country path:
Have you ever noticed their colours and patterns? The contrasting stripes between the pale buff umber in the spring, and the muddy purple umber and veridian green in the winter.
The well trodden path suggests a well loved route. So many people have ambled along the path, all with separate lives and stories but all following this track, leaving their imprint in the soil. I just love walking. It nourishes me, it helps me think and fuels my art.
My familiar favourite walks are around the fields in Hethersett, a village in Norfolk where I grew up and Nonsuch Park and Oaks Park in the South London borough of Sutton where I live now. They have beautiful well trodden paths, across colourful fields and meadows, often aligned with verges and hedges full of wild flora.
Another reason I’m drawn to the path is from its perspective, the point of view. It can help make a great composition with directional lines and curves.
Moreover, I also like the philosophy of a well trodden pathway. There are a great many sayings and metaphors that talk about pathways…
Stay on track
Follow your path
I’m at a crossroads
Which direction?
Going round the bend
Life’s a journey
I’ve come full circle.
The above painting is my favourite corner of Oaks Park. The corner makes a great composition as it has a country path with four lanes, and a beautiful lime tree set against dark woodland and in the Summer with a meadow in the foreground.
This pathway seems to tell a story. There are four lanes leading the same way, but three of the lanes tail off.
Some people know what they want to do, where they are going, they are straight forward and get there quickly. (The fast trackers in the fast lane).
I am the one that wanders in all four lanes, juggling and experimenting and getting diverted along the way. Although this makes the journey enjoyable and a richer experience it perhaps makes it longer than strictly necessary.
I am also thinking about my two sons, embarking on their own life journeys. All the paths they will take.
Looking back at my old journals, I am still on track. It’s amazing that over thirty years later, I am still painting my walks, still dabbling with different media, painting floral and landscapes and turning out the odd textile design.
So, pathways are a major theme that I will be painting and exploring more in the coming months. Sometimes they may include a little white dog enjoying the natural smells, or perhaps a hunched up old man with his faithful black Labrador at his side.
Perhaps they might make you think about you own path and your family’s. Are you on the right track?
