Dartmoor Gothic

After 30 years of practise I find that I have barely scatched the surface of this thing called Art but that's half the attraction. Art is certainly about the journey and not so much the destination and what a fascinating journey it is.

My first image of Dartmoor is an image that was placed in my mind
by a film I watched, 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', it is by any
account a powerfull piece of Gothic horror and it etched on my mind
a lasting image of Dartmoor.

There is a derelict desolation to the moor, I think we would all agree, even before we lay foot on Dartmoor our minds are set to this, the word Dartmoor itself has a synonymy with the other worldly, strengthened by folklore and mythology giving us a very powerfull image of a place that is darkly gothic and tragically romantic.

This is the image I have in my own mind. Like any other image it is the face or the mask of the moor, if we look behind the mask we might reveal a better truth, however this Gothic image, this face of fiction, is part of Dartmoor’s character.

Sherlock Holmes himself said - “yes, the setting (Dartmoor) is a worthy one if the Devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men” Sherlock Holmes, - Arthur Conan Doyle.

Oil on Board

38x38cm

Framed in an Open Frame