Title/headline . . . . . . It's more dangerous than you think painting rural art!By : Deborah Susan Jones : EditorThis
is the view from the top (and I do mean the top) of the railway bridge
at Church Stretton railway station. In an effort to get a unique view
Peter climbed up on top of the parapet of the cast iron bridge. The
parapet is only at best a foot and a half wide!"Looking
back, I realise this was very dangerous." he said and certainly it was.
It's easy to get carried away when fired-up with enthusiasm."In
any event this is a view of the famous Long Mynd hill in Shropshire,
England, part of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty. The Long Mynd or "Long Mountain" (in Welsh Mynd Hir
[ˈmənɪð ˈhiːr] . The Long Mynd runs up and behind Peter's studio and is
more typically portrayed in its typical green and brown or purple
appearance depending on time of year and the appearance of
Heather or bracken.This
view however is taken on a winter's day when a typical mist, so
prevalent in the Stretton gap in winter, is drifting in front of the
hill whilst snow has fallen and a break in the heavy cloud has suddenly
appeared.Stunning!Living
at the bottom of the Long Mynd is a special experience, offering
limitless inspiration and a vast wild area to explore, and then of
course, there are the wild ponies and sheep and Buzzards and now even
Red Kites.Now
and then a sheep strays from the common land grazing of the Long Mynd
and show up at the back of the studio and once one even was found
wandering the supermarket in the center of town! It's an interesting
place to live.Ashes
Hollow, Barristers Batch, Bilbatch, Broadhill Dale, Burnells Brook,
Callow Hollow, Carding Mill Valley, Catbatch Brook, Cwmdale, Devils
Mouth Hollow, Gogbatch, Grindle Hollow. Hawkham Hollow, Hens Batch,
High Park Hollow, Jonathon’s Hollow, Light Spout Hollow, Long Batch,
Minton Batch, Motts Road, Mount Gutter, New Pool Hollow, Nut Batch,
Pike Hollow. Rams Batch, Sleekstone Bank Hollow, Stanbatch, Stony
Batch, Townsbrook Valley, Woolers Batch. Yewtree Batch . . . . . how
can an artist resist painting places with names like these!With
names like these and the limitless visual inspiration provided by the
area, not least of all the Long Mynd, the opportunities for paintings
are limitless and if the artist has any difficulty at all it is in
deciding which amongst these potential iconic pictures to paint in
which order. Then there are decisions as to what size, what proportion
the painting should be and thoughts as to how best to show off the work
when framed and, well, the list is equally limitless, and so it is that
the professional artist has to be disciplined and focused in these
matters.It would indeed be a considerable range of considerations but he never sees it that way.He just thinks it's fun!By : Deborah Susan Jones : Editor
