Why Certain Landscapes Stay With Us Forever
Whether you’re in your home town (or city) or traveling to somewhere new or where you’ve been before and loved, a particular landscape can cause an emotional reaction to seeing it, and you may remember it forever. I think there are many reasons for this, linking back to memory and nostalgia for that particular time and place. I grew up in Vermont and have a lot of experience with exploring natural habitats, from forests, fields, ponds, lakes, mountains, hills, and etc. The places that were special to me in my childhood will always have a place in my heart, and I’ll remember them fondly forever because I accumulated many happy memories there.
In my daily life there are so many responsibilities and tasks to complete each day, that it can be easy to forget there is a world outside of my routine. Or, even if I haven’t forgotten about its existence it’s easy to let the routine of life get between myself and enjoying it. That’s why when I travel I enjoy seeing new places so much. When I was in Scotland I got to explore Edinburgh for the first time. It is a city that has hundreds of years of history, and there were so many landmarks that were still standing tall and proud despite the years. It’s amazing to think of a place having such a long history and still being able to see and appreciate it by seeing how some of the landmarks that formed its history are still there and how they’re interacted with now. An example would be in my painting Exploring Dean Village, which shows some of the beautiful houses we saw while roaming the area for the afternoon. I wanted to show how the historic stone and brick homes looked lining the side of the stone wall and tree lined road. A little bit of history and modernity in one piece.
Exploring Dean Village
Fluid Acrylics on Paper
10.75 x 13 5/8, 2024
The more remote and untouched areas that we got to experience when we went up North to Inverness and the Highlands around it were also visually stunning and memorable. In The Winding Roads Of The Quiraing Mountain Pass I depicted the sight from the top of the hill and how you could see the winding road that we took all the way from the bottom all the way up to the top. I painted another piece from that same area called Looking Out Over The Quiraing Mountain Pass. It shows the view of the cliff, the bright blue sky occupied with clouds, and the valley far below. In both of these paintings I wanted to express the awe I felt while standing at the top of that plateau, with the wind whipping around us. The sight of the mountain road winding from far below up to the top, and the extremely vivid colors of the lush green landscape and the saturated blue skies with the wispy clouds quickly moving past were breathtaking and not something I had witnessed before.
The Winding Roads Of The Quiraing Mountain Pass
Fluid Acrylics on Paper
18 5/8 x 14, 2023
The sight of herds of cattle and sheep across miles of farmland, with tall grass, blue mountain ranges in the distance, and huge trees dotting the landscape were unforgettable. They all had such an idyllic feeling when we got to see them up close and experience them in person. My painting Highland Landscape with Cows was directly inspired by one of those moments. Having grown up in Vermont I am very familiar with farmland and rolling hills, but seeing them in Scotland felt different, especially since we would pass these areas of rich farmland and would soon end up in a port town next to the ocean, as we did when we entered Mallaig. My painting Mallaig Beach was inspired by the view of the ocean we saw when we got off the West Highland Line to stop for lunch. The wind was whipping here as well, and I loved the cool colors of the ocean and sky with the rocky beach, and the people in the distance also enjoying the moment.
There were many moments like these on our trip to Scotland, and that was part of the reason I chose to form a collection around them. I believe that creating a painting inspired by those places allowed me to not only depict the place and show exactly how it looked, but the paintings can also pass on the emotions and feelings I experienced while seeing them. I think I’m not alone in enjoying experiencing new places, especially when they have such an awe inspiring presence. A painting allows you to enjoy the landscape forever instead of its memory just being in your mind, and even if you haven’t gone there before a piece of art can fulfill that longing for beauty, peacefulness, and exploration. One of the most inspiring things about nature is that it grows and evolves with very little help from anyone, and the results are breathtaking.