Landscape and Belonging . A Painting of Broad Meadow farm Edgworth Bolton artist Rob Miller medium Oils on linen board

March 03, 2018

Landscape and Belonging . A Painting of Broad Meadow farm Edgworth Bolton artist Rob Miller medium Oils on linen board

Writing this in March 2018 when the country has been in its coldest in Pennine terms it was in 1929 when Hadraw Force pool last froze in Teesdale and Ice climbers climbed on Kinder Scout downfall in Derbyshire. My studio at Falcon Mill was not quite as cold as Siberia but it was certainly getting closer with temperatures reaching a low of -6 Centigrade. I found myself rooting around in the storage part of my studio and came across a group of landscapes that I had been working on in 2015 . They were all a set of paintings sketched during walks I made with my partner. I had niotions at this time of running with a series based on a Pennine theme of Landscape and belonging. After getting the offer of a commision and residency at Lingholm I needed more working space and revisit my acrylic techniques as I was due to use Pip Seymour paints and I had put the oil on board Pennine works to one side.

I particularly like the way that oil paint colour and texture in this work and its sisters. Having painted mostly in acrylics over the last decade I was somewhat impatient at the drying time of oil. Experimenting with different mediums from a variety of sources I was becoming increasingly frustrated.

It took a week of this Siberian weather to reawaken my joy of a summer spent painting and dodging the rain showers above Egerton Village near Bolton. Heres "Summer memories Broad meadow Farm" Edgworth, Bolton Lancashire. Finally completed after a 4 years wait.