Oil in Linen 100cm by 110cm by 3.7cm

This painting is of one of the party members of a climbing expedition to Mt Baruntse. The climber is tired and struggling up a difficult fixed line. This painting looks out from near the summits of Mera Peak in Nepal and contemplates the beyond. In this most recent body of work there has been a shift in pallet colour to muted greys offset by florescent pinks and greens. Such a choice serves to place the viewer as a climber in the highest zone of the Himalayas where existence is only ever perceived through tinted lenses changing all light to hyper-colour vibrant and raised contrast levels. One is overwhelmed by the effects of oxygen depletion and dizziness therefore perception becomes about euphoria mixed with intense self-preservation. These paintings are sometimes left in a state of incompletion. The unresolved passages reflect the painting process its self as a journey which may be more important than the finished destination. Much in the same way as the process of climbing a mountain can be discovery of what is revealed within as much as or perhaps more than without, that being on a summit for example. Figures populate these paintings some in a cut-fractured state. Such devices act as metaphors to the dispersed sense of self as one ascends higher altitudes. Prayer flags blow in the wind and break apart literally in the brush strokes. These link and act as ceremonial reminders of the real world of family, friends back home and what is at stake in the spiritual ladder world. Prayer flags on passes are placed to appease the mountain deities and bring safe passage whilst scaling the peaks. This painting is made entirely from reference images I made and photographed during my 2014 expedition in Nepal.