Oil painting on linen
Size: 106 H x 147 W x 3.5 cm

Ships in a crate 

This painting serves to reminds one of the inherent dangers in the mountains. Death is never far away as the gravestone remind us. The Northern lights glow in the sky as a counterpoint suggesting the sublime transcendence of a living earth. The aurora were believed to be the rising spirits of the dead to the ancient peoples of the north, perhaps they represent souls lost in the wilds raising up to become a grander part the landscape one has passed away within. The significance of the peak (Aoraki) Mount Cook is named after Captain Cook who grew up in the same village (Great Ayton) as Alexander, Cook inspired Alex to leave his childhood home and explore far off mountains of the worlds greater ranges. The graveyard is taken from Alex's local setting and layered over this expanse with ivy flowing symbolic of the romantic tragedy of mortal impermanence.