This commission for two friends really pushed me outside my comfort zone.
Yes it’s a landscape, which is what I usually paint, but it’s in New Zealand which I’ve never visited and hence I had no personal feeling for the place. In this painting, the landscape was to be the hero rather than just a backdrop – they’d chosen this site because of its magnificence and also the feeling of age & grandeur, wanting to say their vows in a place where they felt the mountains were watching and witnessing their commitment to each other, and it was the feeling of the place that they wanted me to try to capture.
It took quite some time and a lot of thought to come to terms with painting the slopes and crags – which colours should I choose, how should I balance them in an overall composition – these problems were not easily solved. Eventually it seemed to click and I was able to paint it in a way that felt comfortable to me. The happy couple were actually added last of all, and were possibly the easiest part of the painting.
The title of the painting comes from the bride’s wedding vows.
“A truth, universally acknowledged” is acrylic and ink on 122x90cm canvas.
