Siobhan O' Hehir: Land-Marks Exhibition

In this recent series of paintings for the Land-Marks exhibition my focus continues with my love and fascination with landscape and the natural world....in some of the paintings I have been exploring the idea of losing the horizon line in an attempt to become more immersed in the whole painting surface from top to bottom and from side to side without relying on the horizon as a pictorial device or point of reference.

Shadow and Form 50x50cm Oil on Canvas

Corner of the Lake, 30x30cm Oil on canvas

Shadow and Form 2 50x50cm Oil on Canvas

My first experiences of seeing proper mountains was in Skye nearly 30 yrs ago ( John reminded me that it was more than 20 plus!!) What fascinated me then and still does is how differently ones' experience of any landscape becomes as you travel through it and into it.

Disappearing into moorland on undulating ground often rough and boggy...the sense of your own scale and place in the landscape changes as you move on . At some point the view that you were gazing at is the place you are now physically in. Simple perhaps but I have always found this so interesting.

Scrambling and climbing on sea cliffs, crags or mountains also gives one a unique and compelling view of ones' surroundings.

Whilst not quite aerial the elevation experienced reveals hidden forms and shapes within the landscape.

Love looking down

In Praise of High Places 1 30x30cm Oil on Canvas

Mist rolling in on top of Sgurr Dearg

I have heightened the constrast in this photo to emphasis the rock formation which was a starting point to the painting above titled In Praise of High Places 100 x100cm Oil on canvas

Sitting or standing on a multi pitch belay gives you time to gaze...shapes often appear slightly flattened out,dykes(lake District) snake their way along, forming enclosures for grazing live stock, trees and farm building too appear differently....more abstracted and unfamiliar. Walking up hill you may encounter, a small lock/lake ....which can appear suddenly and on a sunny day they appear to shimmer like glass in the bright sun light.

All over blue sky, Lakes

Climbing is part visual part sensory.....the rock becomes a map through which your eyes, hands, feet and whole body navigate and again what is so interesting is how the route appears from the ground and how this often contrasts to how it feels when you are up in and on it!

Sea cliff climbing in Cornwall

Me on the sharpe end of the rope, Lakes

Absailing with Owl in the Cuillins

My hope is that my experiences translate in some way in these paintings. There is a lot of blue in them but looking through my photographs taken on location reflects this, way more than I had really considered.
Of course the paintings are not intended to translate in an obvious way...colour is more of an emotional charged expression and less about actual representation. The shapes and passages within the the some of paintings are an attempt to depict a kind of meditative sensory experience.

T

Study

The compositions are often a deliberate juxtaposition of viewpoints...a kind of quasi cubism depicted by mosaic like motifs are juxtaposed with more amorphous elements...one that confuses and diffuses form and structure.
This is something so familiar up in the mountains especially in inclement weather.

The exhibition Land- Marks is on at The White Fox Gallery, 51 High Street,Coldstream TD12 4DL until October 26th. The gallery is open Tues-Sat 10am-4pm (Wed 10am-1pm)