Day 11 No getting away from the weather

There's just no getting away from it, but the fact of the matter is that the weather is really getting me down! The lack of any prolonged sunshine, assured dry spells or even slightly warmer temperatures is keeping me indoors too much and close to home, not enough ramblings going on around here!

Sheep Circle

Sheep Circle 2

Sheep Circle (this time with no horizon line)

In the meantime there are plenty of non weather dependent things to do...I've  been turning my thoughts back to work I started last March. These pieces were made in response to the landscape close to the Cheviot hills on the Border between Scotland and England.
I was looking for a way to reference this particular landscape without recourse to a purely representational image.
This quote by Mondrian which I read on the really informative abstraktion.org/blog  sums up a tiny part of what I was thinking about   "The emotion of beauty is always obscured by the appearance of the object"....."Therefore the object must be eliminated from the picture"
Contour lines taken from relevant maps, references to sheep folds and experimentation with texture to conjure up the worn and weathered aspects of the ground are first steps in exploring non figurative forms of representation.
I doubt I'll ever make an emotionally beautiful painting in the sense of what Mondrian meant, being constantly  drawn back to the horizon line where below is the earth and  above is the sky.
It's a pictorial device of course but even when I have tried to eliminate it, it returns!!

30x30cm Oil collage and wax

  100x100cm  From Hindhope Hill 1

From Hindhope Hill 2

 Within this, is the atmosphere and the weather. Mists, rain and clouds abound always. Rare is a painting with no weather.....
I suppose I should be grateful for our inclement weather. In the ever changing conditions,shifting sun light,rain,clouds and mist  all help to obfuscate,delineate and constantly alter the solid hills and valleys.

Onward!!