Emma James Contemporary Landscapes - The Ground Beneath Me

Inspired by late summer heather over the North York Moors

Medium: Acrylic and oil pastel on board in a black/graphite frame.

Dimensions: 26cm wide x 27.5cm high

Artist statement: 

Landscapes are sacred and brave. My work reflects both the calm I feel as I move through wild spaces and the vulnerability of navigating vast, open, and unpredictable places. My paintings move, as I do, through wild spaces. The marks are vulnerable, the colours are calm, the lines wander and search.

As I walk through the Yorkshire landscape, I love to explore the lines, shapes, and colours that I see. I record these as fragments of my memory. I seek out the stories of those who once lived and sheltered on the land, to discover the relationship we once had to the wilderness. I like to consider the contrast between the steadfastness of the rock face or the mountain against our fragile dependency on the land or our vulnerability to natures elements.