* JAMES HAWKINS, SNOWY MOUNTAINS

oil on board, signed mounted, framed and under glass image size 41cm x 59cm, overall size 60cm x 77cm Note: James Hawkins' unique style of painting has developed steadily to a point where he straddles abstraction and figuration with dextrous ability. His rich and luscious paint surfaces are "edible at times, brutally indigestible at others". Every square inch of canvas is packed with frenetic gestures and colours vibrating with energy. Yet there is also space and serenity surrounding and cradling the seething microcosm. The hurricane-driven blizzards of winter are here, the ice-thin wind, the sleeting rain, the starbursts of spring, and the sleeping secret places of summer; also the slow rich decay of autumn. Hawkins is a man who gets beneath nature’s skin and portrays a landscape from the inside out. His personal journey maps previously unknown territory enabling us all to see more clearly the many-layered riches of the special wilderness environment that is Wester Ross.