Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Recently I have had to choose from a collection of paintings in my current project to exhibit in the graduation exhibition at my university. I thought I would talk through my choices and the paintings in my project.
I had seven paintings to choose from and I decided to exhibited five of those paintings. When selecting my paintings I had in mind which compositions I thought were strongest and also what paintings would look good exhibited next to each other. I did find it quite difficult and explored a handful of options before arriving on my final decision.
My first choice was the painting below, depicting Llangorse Lake in Bannau Brycheiniog. There is a Welsh folktale that tells of a monster, the Afanc who lived in the waters of the lake, attacking those who came too close to it’s waters. Tales tell of the monster being slain by King Arthur or being captured by villagers. I chose this painting as I thought overall it was a strong composition which conveys the beauty and serenity of the landscape whilst prompting the image of a monster lurking in the lake.
Next, I decided to exhibit the painting below which captures an image of the Roman Amphitheatre in Caerleon. This roman amphitheatre was built around AD90. The Roman people would come to watch exotic wild animals and gladiator combat. It is also speculated that this could be the place King Arthur was crowned and that the ruins are remains of his round table. I wanted to exhibit this work to portray the marks of history shown in this composition with the overgrown architecture now disappearing into the earth.
I decided to exhibit the painting below of The Skirrid. I found the tale of a giant and the devil’s argument interesting as it demonstrates how folklore helped people to explain physical features and aspects of the land and environment surrounding them. The story tells of a giant, Jack O’Kent who had an argument with the Devil over which was bigger, the Sugar Loaf or the Malvern Hills. Jack was proved right and in his disgust the Devil collected a huge apron of soil to tip over the Malvern Hills to make them higher. However, just as the Devil was crossing the Skirrid the apron broke, dumping the soil on the Skirrid and forming the tump at the northern end. I also wanted to exhibit this painting as I was quite happy with how the brush marks and texture turned out in the painting as this is what intended.
I was quite keen to exhibit the painting of devil’s bridge as I liked how it was a different composition to the other three paintings, being in portrait format. A tale tells of how the original bridge was built by the Devil. Too difficult for mortals to build, the Devil agreed to build the bridge in exchange for the soul of the first being to cross the bridge. However, the Devil was tricked by a girl who sent her dog over the bridge instead. Again this shows hoe people would use stories to explain aspects of the land around them. I was very happy with the outcome of the waterfall. The focus is on the waterfall opposed to the original bridge as I wanted to showcase the beauty of the nature found here and provide viewers with an environment they could imagine mythical creatures exploring and inhabiting.
The final painting I chose was Llyn y Gader, depicting one of lakes nestled underneath Cadair Idris. There are many legends surrounding this mountain range, such as some nearby lakes like Llyn y Gader being bottomless. The mountains name refers to a giant, Idris. In Welsh mythology, Cadair Idris is also said to be the hunting grounds of Gwyn ap Nudd, King of the fairy folk and the Otherworld. I thought the composition of this painting was quite interesting, as if its the view of the lake from a giant’s perspective. I also thought as this painting is also portrait orientated it would fit with the previous one.
