'The River Great Ouse' — Mixed Media Landscape

'The River Great Ouse' — Mixed Media Landscape

The River Great Ouse is one of the defining features of the Cambridgeshire Fenlands — a slow, wide river that winds through the flat landscape, its banks lined with willows and reeds, its surface reflecting the enormous sky above. It is a river that has shaped the landscape around it over centuries, and that continues to define the character of the towns and villages along its course.

The Painting

This mixed media landscape was made in response to the particular quality of the river in the Fenland context — its width, its slowness, its relationship to the sky. The composition is horizontal, reflecting the flatness of the terrain, with the river occupying the lower portion of the canvas and the sky the upper. The horizon line is low, giving the sky its characteristic dominance.

The mixed media approach allows for a range of surface effects that suit the subject: areas of smooth, fluid paint suggesting the surface of the water, alongside more textured passages representing the banks and the vegetation. The palette is cool and restrained — the greys and blues of the river, the greens of the reeds, the pale, luminous tones of the Fenland sky.