Its quite interesting how a small shift in focus from ‘realism’ to ‘abstraction’ can affect how you view a painting. Now things are not quite so definite, and the relationship of shapes in the landscape take precedent over what that shape may be. I thought by going down this route the picture would hold less interest for me, but the opposite is true. Now my imagination has to fill in the gaps and join the dots in order to try and make sense of what I am looking at. For me there is something more mysterious going on in this painting as it works more abstractly yet is not so removed from what is actually there. This is the kind of abstract painting I like, when it still has a connection to the world we know and this creates a tension in the painting.
Simonside Hills. Day 4