Ridge series 2 A painting by Rob Miller

Ridge series 5
Lone man walking 2008
24" x 48 "

I unearthed this painting by chance in the storeroom at ascot studios the other day, having not had sight of the work for well over a year. I quickly photographed it so that I could share it with you, this is its first viewing as far as I know; The Painting is of a lone man walking away from the valley; his face partly turned and nondescript , he is wearing a business/work-suite. I painted this work from memory of a guy who walked in front of me up Swinshaw Moor near Water some five years ago, the gentleman wore a suite and ordinary shoes, the weather was wet and cold, a not untypical Rossendale Valley summers day. There was no path in the area and I have often wondered about the story behind the image. I was dressed for the hills as they say with my sketching bag, stout boots, waterproofs etc and I  sort of shadowed the guy for a while to see if he was okay. He moved fairly easily across the difficult terrain and so once we had both reached the ridge top I sat and watched him continue onwards towards Crawshawbooth making a drawing in my sketchbook. I wrote in pencil On Longridge Fell across the bottom of the painting at the time of its completion in the studio some four years after the actual event, Longridge is a simular ridge to Swinshaw across the Ribble watershed, but the guy is definatly the one on Swinshaw Moor;  Maybe I had walked across Longridge Fell the week before?  Whatever there is something definitely male about the image or concept of the lone man that strikes a chord.