The Mountain Road IV, ©John O’Grady
20″ x 20″ x 1.75″, oil on deep edged canvas, ready to hang.
Not for Sale (NFS)
When you are travelling through Ireland, particularly in the west, you are likely to marvel at the beauty of the landscape.
Rugged and wild, it will capture your heart.
Although I relate to this, when there, I tend to spend most of my time looking up: above our heads is an incredible spectacle.
It’s like magic.
The clouds sweep in from the Atlantic. They build up and rise and shift and swirl in an astonishing display of power.
They look heavy and ominous and soon they’ll ascend to become ethereal and transparent.
The landscape has its place though.
It’s a fitting and stunning backdrop even when mountains look dwarfed in the presence of cumulus clouds that stand three or four times their height above their summit.
Can you imagine their weight?
These contrasts and contradictions gave me the starting point for this painting.
The ephemeral clouds are both heavy and filled with light while the trees stand slim and dark against the evening sky.
I’d love to hear what you think.
What a beautiful expression of the west of Ireland John. There are certain things that happen to us only when we experience solitude. This painting depicts the innate rhythm of solitude which clearly inhabits the west coast. When we present ourselves to nature it often reminds me of William Butler Yeats .. “there are no strangers here, only friends who haven’t yet met”.
Hello Irene,
I agree that when we are open ourselves particularly in solitude, a different perspective on the world can sometimes be seen and as you mentioned the beautiful isolation of the west coast can offer us that.
Thank you for the Yeat’s quote it is very fitting’
So lovely John! It is one of those paintings (not unusual with yours) that close looking and many return visits pays dividends as there is so much to see and feel. Your colours provide that sense of light, weight, depth but also mystery and there is an exquisite ‘silver thread’ above the horizon on the right. Wonderful clouds and a tantalising pathway leading onwards and upwards.
Hello Chris,
Thank you for your comment, I am glad you spotted the ‘Silver Thread’ to the right. I think that is where the eye is led as the detail and light is all above the horizon in those ‘Wonderful clouds’ I am glad to hear that it keeps drawing you back to it 🙂
beautiful painting John, I love the colour palette you’ve used in this painting, very cool description too….Ireland is a place I’d love to visit at some point in my life
Thank you very much Julie for your comment on the painting, yes I was happy with how the palette worked on this one, pastel pinks and purples. Glad you like the description sometimes putting that together is harder than the painting part 🙂