This exhibition marks a return to landscape for me, after a focus on more urban and architectural concerns in my last series. Having spent holidays in various different mountainous regions over the last five years – elements from these travels slowly began to emerge in my paintings. Always drawn towards empty space, quietness, subtle colour and tone, a trip to Western Canada in 2007, inspired me greatly. The vastness of the place, and the large tracts of seemingly untouched wilderness made their impression. The dense dark black green of forested areas surrounded by earthy coloured land and airy coloured mountains in the distance provided me with a tonal/colour range, which I felt in tune with. Previously, I have worked with more anonymous or regular forms, such as bands or rectangular insets, however this exhibition sees a move towards more irregular and varied forms. Small pencil drawings focusing on tone, mass, direction, composition, mark making and positive/negative shapes, have played an important part in influencing these paintings. Although, more representational than previous series, these pieces are still about blocks/shapes of colour. As well as my aesthetic concerns, portraying the mood of a place is always important. The inclusion of roads, rivers and paths cutting through the landscape, gives the viewer a route into these paintings and hopefully brings them closer to the essence of these places. Canada dominates this series; however Switzerland, Ireland, and Slovenia have also been the inspiration behind some of the works