Landscape painting has given me great pleasure throughout my life. It was a huge part of my BA final exhibition back in 1974 and has been with me ever since. There are few things more pleasant than sitting in sunshine armed with sketch pad and colours, and whenever I travel, I always have these tools to hand.

I have lived and worked in Iceland for 45 years now, and somewhat shamefacedly, my landscapes have mainly been an activity saved for warmer climes. But in 2020, along with my family, I travelled extensively in Iceland, sketching as we went along. The results of this were taken back to my studio to be developed into larger scale works.

Iceland most definitely has a spiritual magic that one experiences out in the wilderness. It has a beauty and harshness that are sometimes overwhelming. The ever-changing light and weather conditions make it an intriguing challenge to capture.

This exhibition is a small part of last years travels. The pictures consist of mixed media, mostly acrylic but with additions of water colour, gouache, oil pastels, crayon and graphite.

My paintings are not normally started with any fixed image in mind. Rather, I apply paint very loosely to start with, then add more and more until something suggests a direction which is then followed using the sketches to aid development. It is very much a journey from beginning to end with an individual character emerging with each painting.

I hope that you experience at least some of the fun that I have had doing them and intend to continue having!

Brian Pilkington