I’ve always yearned to paint the ‘spirit’ or true essence of a place, or, to paint a my feelings of spirituality into a landscape. That sounds a bit mumbo-jumbo, but I have always felt a deep connection to Sprit (God, Mother Nature, or however you describe it) particularly when walking, sitting and drawing in the landscape.

 I have been listening to classical vocals while drawing this morning, and these seem to penetrate through me into the paper and into the trees and grass. Hildegard Von Bingen took me to a new place where landscape and spirit combine: hence this drawing. This may be my attempt to show human spirituality in a natural place, but there’s no dogma attached, no set of rules, no creed. 

I feel the music lifting me and settling me at the same time in a ‘new’ place, a place where I can just drift and draw from my inner being, rather than being too analytical: too locked into reality.

The process of drawing is a constant battle between an inner voice, which repeats “oh, that’s bad” and “it’s never going to look right” and the artist who just allows creative energy to take over: to let it flow, just as the music flows through the wind and the bird song. I’m not afraid to use the word ‘spirituality’ and drawing, I see myself as a spiritual being and an artist, so it makes sense for one to continue to develop the other.

JM