Mupe Rocks

How does one distil into a painting the experience of standing on a cliff top or looking out to sea? According to Marcel Proust, who was a great admirer of John Ruskin, “Reality lies not in the appearance of the subject but in the extent to which it leaves an impression on the artist”. In other words, realism has to be put aside in the artist’s search for a pictorial reality. The sensation of looking at Mupe Rocks can best be conveyed, not by imitating in paint the appearance of its parts, but by summoning up its essential nature, through light, space and colour.