Painting Dartmoor
By Craig Long - Added 26th of May 2011Dartmoor is known for its Tors— hills topped with outcrops of bedrock, which in Granite country such as this are usually rounded boulder-like formations. More than 160 of the hills of Dartmoor have the word tor. However this does not appear to relate to whether or not there is an outcrop of rock on their summit. These Tors on Dartmoor have been an inspiratiom to many artists over the years, myself being one of them, I have painted the most famous tors at least twice as they change so much in character depending on light and waether. I find Dartmoor to be a constant source of wonder , when ever i visit there is allways a sense of the past , as if you can feel the generations that have come before to admire ,paint or work the land.I believe it is important to tap into these feelings when painting , you need to feel something for your subject or it just becomes an exercise of skill rather than art .I remember my first visit to Dartmoor, it was wet misty and cold, a perfect Dartmoor day or at least one common to us all .It feltlike I had stepped into an old Conan novel or perhaps the Lord Of The Rings, Theres a certain air of mystery that surrounds Dartmoor especialy when the waether turns sour, a kind of surreal quiet that I realy love .If you want to get a way from it all for a few hours there nothing qiute so soul cleansing as a wet walk across the moors.
My love of Painting came around the same time as I first visited the moors, whether they inspired me to paint I don’t know as I had recenetely moved to Torquay from Coventry .So needless to say the whole of south Devon became an instant wonder to me , I recall thinking I had never seen grass so green as in Devon,The saying “the grass is allways greener on the other side of the fence” for me was actually true. The Landscape I found myself immeresed in was a real revelation to a city boy, yes I had spent many holidays in the Lake District and Scotland and i counted myself as something of an outdoorsman, but truly living with it on your doorstep day in day out was a new beginning for me and i guess in part was the reason thati began painting what i had begun to love
My First major painting of Dartmoor was Houndtor, not Haytor as you would assume. I know that Haytor is the more frequented of the Dartmoor tors but my first love will allways be Houndtor. I used to cycle up from sunny Torquay into the misty dampness following the old granite tramway from the back of Newton Abbott to Bovy Tracy. then the slow grind up to Haytor , followed by the granite tramway past Haytor Quarry down into the valley then upto Great tor rocks and finally Houndtor. Where i used to stop for a well deserved cuppa and slice of cake at the Hound of the Basket meals. That place was like a beacon to any weary walkers or mountain bikers, the Guy who ran it was a real character too nice a nd friendly as long as you did,nt mention politics
If I was still feeling frisky I would then head off up the road to Jays Grave where you could either take the path over to see old Bowermans Nose or take the path throuth towards Hamel Down then over the top and on to Grimspound. As i am older now and considerably rounder i find it hard to believe writing this that i accomplished such journeys without an ambulance ride home. Still i have to admit life in front of the easel is a little slower than mountain biking halfway across the moors, though everynow and then I have a mini midlife and get out on my bike to blow out the old cobwebs.
These days I mostly walk the moors , as carrying painting equipment and such is not ideal on a bike , besides i find you have more time to immerse youself in your surroundings and sometimes spot that elusive scene easier when your not frightened for your life plummeting down some rocky trail.
Capturing those elusive moments on Dartmoor Requires frequent visits to keep that sense of place strong in your heart, its not enough to simply paint what you see. I think this is a lesson i am only now begginng to realy appreciate, for years I was concernd mostly about the quality of my artwork , focusing too closely on the techniques used to produce the Paintings but often losing the feel of it. Regardless of technique I found myself looking at much earlier pictures and though they lacked skill in execution they had a feeling to them , often clumsy and with out elegance but feeling none the less. I now firmly believe this is the true foundation to any great painting, being able to convey a feeling or moment in light form and colour is a way of conecting with other people who view it in a way which is so much more instinctive than words. And you often find the viewer picks up on nuances you hadnt at first been aware of. I painted a scene of Wistmons wood which realy proved this point to me, its not a study of Wistmons wood but more of a study of what Wistmons feels like to me what it invokes if you like. I found much like the Place itself it quickly became a Marmite picture “ you either hate it or love it”. But strangley the gentleman who bought the original painting said it reminded him of somewhere elso on the moors that he loved, I have noticed there is often some conection made when somebody buys a piece of artwork that they realy love , it a bit like looking at a couple and saying they realy look good together.