Neil Davies' spectacular paintings witness the seasons as they come and go on the West Cornwall Peninsula, a starkly beautiful landscape that is swept by light and storms, and marked by ancient ley lines and granite. In winter, the sky, sea and land seem to merge as waves crash along the shoreline, while in spring the moors are coloured by yellow gorse and hedgerows dripping with wildflowers.
'After many years of continuous painting, I decided to have a year off from exhibiting, partly to reassess my work, but mainly to refurbish my studio which was badly in need of recladding, rewiring and decluttering.
Once done, I felt it was time to get 'out and about' again, revisiting familiar and favourite locations on the moorlands and coastline of West Penwith, looking for any obvious changes, and with the exciting prospect of chancing upon the unexpected.
Though the bare bones and essential elements of the West Cornwall landscape tend to remain unchanged, seasonal extremes in weather - storms, heavy rainfall and summer drought - can leave a fresh visual impact. Add to this the interplay between man and nature, such as the recent introduction by the National Trust of grazing ponies for ground clearance, and there are some quite noticeable alterations to the terrain. As a result, this new collection of work presents images of familiar landscapes, but with a twist, viewed in a new light, from a new angle.