JULIAN MASON : THE LIVING LANDSCAPE
West of Torrin, Skye Framed Size: 142 x 111 cm 142 111
Boat at Rest, Plockton Bay Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm 43 43
Reflections, Plockton Framed Size: 49 x 49 cm 49 49
Only Ferry Running, Lochranza, Arran Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm 43 43
Calm Across Whiting Bay, Arran Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm 43 43
Abhainn Coire Mhic Nobaill, Torridon Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm 43 43
Gorse and Daffodils, Kerr's Point, Arran Framed Size: 49 x 49 cm 49 49
Afternoon at Arienskill, Road to the Isles Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm 43 43
Midday, Loch Shiel Framed Size: 110 x 97 cm 110 97
Break in the Clouds, Coruisk, Skye Framed Size: 110 x 110 cm 110 110
Goatfell, Arran Framed Size: 69 x 69 cm 69 69
May Blossom, Loch Eil Framed Size: 79 x 79 cm 79 79
Colours of May, Torridon Framed Size: 121 x 60 cm 121 60
Rechullin and Loch Torridon Framed Size: 69 x 69 cm 69 69
Muckle Gowan, Silver Sands, Morar Framed Size: 90 x 90 cm 90 90
Sgurr Mor, Coire Mhic Nobaill Framed Size: 79 x 79 cm 79 79
Edge of the Tide Framed Size: 27 x 22 cm 27 22
Forty Winks Framed Size: 24 x 24 cm 24 24
Surf Searchers Framed Size: 27 x 22 cm 27 22
Grasses, Morar Bay Framed Size: 80 x 70 cm 80 70
Eigg and Rhum from Morar Framed Size: 80 x 70 cm 80 70
Secluded Beach, Morar Framed Size: 70 x 60 cm 70 60
September, Morar Framed Size: 59 x 59 cm 59 59
Port na Cullaidh, Elgol, Skye Framed Size: 121 x 60 cm 121 60
Waters of the Cuillins, Skye Framed Size: 141 x 111 cm 141 111
Spring Waters, Arran Framed Size: 96 x 81 cm 96 81
Low Tide, Inveralligin, Torridon Framed Size: 67 x 43 cm 67 43
Sannox Burn, Arran Framed Size: 122 x 96 cm 122 96
Spring Waters, North Glen, Sannox Framed Size: 69 x 69 cm 69 69
Pathway into Torridon Framed Size: 80 x 65 cm 80 65
Winter Light, North Sannox Burn Framed Size: 80 x 70 cm 80 70
Black Cuillin, from Scavaig River Framed Size: 142 x 111 cm 142 111
Late Summer Light, the Cuillins Framed Size: 69 x 69 cm 69 69
Path to Goatfell, Arran Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm 43 43
River Ailort, Road to the Isles Framed Size: 90 x 90 cm 90 90
Ben Nevis and Gorse Pathways Framed Size: 69 x 69 cm 69 69
Dusk, Back of Keppoch, Arisaig Framed Size: 67 x 50 cm 67 50
Mull from Iona Framed Size: 59 x 59 cm 59 59
Old Boat of Caol, Fort William Framed Size: 69 x 69 cm 69 69
Safe Harbour, Ballachulish Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm 43 43
Morar Bay Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm 43 43
Tree Rock, Rannoch Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm 43 43
Boats, Pittenweem Framed Size: 49 x 49 cm 49 49
Light and Rain, Loch Morar Framed Size: 67 x 43 cm 67 43
Sannox Bay, Arran Framed Size: 89 x 50 cm 89 50
Dubh Lochan, Rannoch Framed Size: 141 x 71 cm 141 71
Am-Ploc, Torridon Framed Size: 67 x 43 cm 67 43
April Light, Coruisk Framed Size: 79 x 79 cm 79 79
Beinn Dearg, Torridon Framed Size: 90 x 90 cm 90 90
Sunrise, Plockton Bay Framed Size: 43 x 43 cm 43 43
Glimmering Light, Fairy Pools, Skye Framed Size: 80 x 65 cm 80 65
Coastal Fresh Framed Size: 27 x 22 cm 27 22
Traigh Ban, Iona Framed Size: 100 x 50 cm 100 50
“I have walked out of the body and into the mountain.”
— Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain
In The Living Mountain, Nan Shepherd writes of the Scottish landscape as more than something to be observed, and as a living force which can experienced through all the senses. Through walking, waiting and returning to the same places, she describes the possibility of connecting with the natural world, where the boundaries between observer and landscape begin to dissolve. Julian’s descriptions and reflections on his time painting en plein air in the highlands and islands of Scotland suggest a similar experience and understanding of the landscape. A multi-sensory feeling of being there lies at the heart of Julian’s work; his paintings are not simply records of mountains, coastlines and open spaces, but expressions of what it feels like to inhabit these remote places, to sit in the silence of a mountain or the thunder of fast flowing water. Like Shepherd, Julian approaches the natural world not from a distance, but from within — allowing himself, for a time, to become part of the landscape he paints. It is a deeply humbling and grounding experience for Julian – it is why he paints.
Spending hours alone in the landscape brings with it an acute awareness of the environment and a heightening of all of the senses. Julian describes sensing the approach of another person long before seeing them: birds fall silent, movement changes and even the air feels different. In these moments, looking becomes inseparable from listening and feeling. He is as much listening to the landscape as observing it, and spending hours and days in a place results in him becoming attuned to shifts in light, weather, birdsong and atmosphere that might otherwise pass unnoticed.
Julian has been visiting Scotland since childhood and now spends months at a time travelling through the Highlands and Islands, painting the places that continue to draw him back. Glencoe and Glen Etive, Glenfinnan, Arisaig, Skye and Iona are among the landscapes to which he repeatedly returns. Carrying his canvases and materials on his back, he works entirely within the landscape and in all weathers, allowing the conditions of each particular day to shape the paintings that emerge.
Please contact us for a preview of the exhibition, and for details of the Private View on Friday 2nd of October and other events.