Kristanbaggaley's Blog

A cold and windy morning on Stanage. The winter sun starts to appear above the line of rocks and with dazzling intensity, it outlines the profile of the gritstone edge. For a moment the tangles of dead bracken flame orange on the steep slopes. How to capture in paint such a brief moment?

The blasting cold air generated a throbbing pain in my ears, even though I was wearing a thermal beanie hat. Previous trickles of water became fast flowing streams, making the landscape even more visually compelling.

The mixed media painting shows a distant glimpse of Kinder Scout, just before the next freezing shower arrives and conceals it again.

A still winters afternoon. soft, milky, light, thin drifting clouds. The brook carries fast running, crystal clear water, percolated through the moorland peat, to the reservoir below. A rich mix of colour combining the dark purple, browns of the heather and the rich ochres of the hair grass, reflected in the colours of the sky.

Finally finished a large mixed media canvas I have been working on for most of the winter. I think this painting expresses a great deal about what I feel and observe about the new weather system we seem to find ourselves in. The ground in the moorland of the Dark Peaks is constantly waterlogged the footpaths are defined by standing water, rain is a constant threat and temperatures are often well above the average for the time of the year, strong winds predominate.

Alport moor is dominated by wavy hair-grass which in winter can be a beautiful vibrant orange a great contrast to the deep burnt sienna of the peat. Even in poor weather this is an area of awe inspiring beauty and big open spaces.

In this very fluid but textured painting I have tried to emphasise the darkness of Burbage Moor at the moment. The rain has finally moved away after several hours of raining. Flashes of standing silver grey water marks the path across the landscape. A painting about solitude a need to be alone but connecting with nature.

The last light of the day. The water glistened on the footpath and groughs leading the eye naturally into the far distance. The colours around are muted by the low light and the winter tones of the heather and grasses. To emphasise the eroded and harsh nature of the landscape the paint has had impasto material added, including heather and peat from the moorland.

The texture can be seen in the above detail from the painting.

Pleinair acrylic on nine 15cm x 10cm canvas’s, studying the dark rich burnt sienna’s of the exposed areas of frozen and saturated peat. It is surprising to find the intense areas of colour in this bleak winter landscape.

Pleinair acrylic paintings on canvas several days of sky studies. The canvas’s are 20cm x 15cm, trying to keep the paint moving to highlight the sense of continual change. The moorland is very wet, puddles and running water abounds. The weather is dominated by cloud and winters soft light.

These are the coldest days of the winter in the Dark Peak District.  The peat is frozen and a dusting of fine snow lies in  any hollows.

The distant hills take on a soft blueness and the freezing air is very still. I am looking for an abstract quality in the watercolour painting, trying to understand the muted colours of the vegetation.

Broad brushstrokes of oil paint trying to emphasise the strength of the freezing northerly wind carry small flakes of snow across Stanage. I was trying to imagine working in such conditions as a quarry man or stone mason, how would I use my tools with any efficiency in this cold? I could hardly feel the tips of my fingers with thermal gloves on.