Arant Haw | Helen Colledge

the path that leads up to the sky

This is what the camera says the hill known as Arant Haw looks like. It flattens out what is an incredibly steep climb beneath an atmospheric sky into something that really doesn’t look like much. I’ve seen that path up the hill in so many different lights now and it is quite haunting in real life. A path leading up into the sky – to nowhere. It reminds me of the ‘Indian Rope Trick’ – where does it go?

The path seized my imagination but I knew I couldn’t show what it felt like up there by painting the view in a straightforward manner. Some experimenting would be required. So, I made a few small oil pastel sketches one day in the freezing cold, standing on the ridge (at a slightly different point from where the photo was taken) and not aiming for realism but letting the feel of the place seep into my brain and out into the pictures. Then I put them away for a while.

the first plein air oil pastel sketch

the second plein air oil pastel sketch

Next I went up there with a pochade box and attempted a quick plein air painting from roughly the same spot at which the photo was taken but the menacing runners appeared (see earlier post) and ran round and round and round across my path! Three times they trampled past until the sun was getting very low. Once I settled down to paint the light was fading quickly, just pausing to make the hill glow for long enough to allow a sketch of the bare essentials, then it was gone.

small plein air study in oils, 6x8, of the path up Arant Haw

the path up Arant Haw, plein air study, oil on canvas, 6×8 inches

So I had a rather feeble photograph, a couple of imaginative oil pastels drawn from further along the track and a plein air oil painting. I went home and created a third oil pastel, trying to blend the two expressionist attempts with the more realistic plein air sketch.

experimental oil pastel study, Arant Haw

the third oil pastel – attempting to combine the first two with the oil painting

Finally, I made four tiny oil on canvas compositions, experimenting with different approaches, attempting to find a way of representing the scene. Two I based on the original oil pastel sketches, one on the third oil pastel in which I’d attempted to combine my previous attempts and the fourth I painted loosely based on the plein air sketch but letting elements of the other studies creep in.

four tiny oil paintings, variations on a theme, path up a hill

four compositions: tiny experimental oils on canvas

Which approach, or combination of approaches, can I use to create a bigger painting? Or do I need to try another way?

the path to the Calf seen from Arant Haw summit

Climbing Arant Haw, the even-higher fell that rears up after you have wearily crested the hill above the town, carrying a loaded pochade box and the rest of the essentials (food, water, clothing) was hard work and took about an hour but it was well worth it. I circled the summit, taking in the views from all around – the whole 360 degrees is pretty spectacular. The decision was made to face south west and take in the light over the sea, a river wriggling along the bottom of a valley and hills sweeping in from the sides, with Winder fell reaching up towards the distant horizon below.

view of my painting spot from above showing some of the valley below

Some kind hill god had created a comfortable seat for me in the middle of a group of rocks. It was just the right height and had a flat piece of grassy floor underneath on which to rest my feet. Below was the drop into the valley below. Of course, I had forgotten to take my camera and there was no question of trekking back home for it so I made plans to return and, hopefully, there are now pictures to go with this post.

the pochade box perched amongst the rocks

Sitting on my rocky perch high above everything I felt a strange sense of euphoria and this made the painting process flow. Those kinds of feelings are not always a good thing, as you can find that you’ve just been merrily daubing away creating a right old mess, senses anaesthetised by awe. This time, the light was changing every minute and I knew the result wasn’t going to be great but decided it would serve as a useful sketch that would help me decide whether the spot was worth returning to.

With nothing higher than the summit near which I sat as far as I could see it was all I could do not to break into song and, as the clouds turned the sun on and off, I had to remind myself that the tonal values in the painting would need to be monitored a bit more closely if the picture was going to read as anything at all.

the view that I was struggling with

Over the course of an hour I struggled with the paint as the wind got up, blowing more and more fiercely and trying to dislodge dirty brushes from the moss into which I’d shoved them. One gust managed to seize the corner of the plastic bag I’d wrapped my remaining brushes in and I had to take a moment to firmly tuck everything under my rucksack which served as a giant paperweight.

Eventually, all the tiny specks of walkers I could see on the flanks of Winder began to disappear and I realised my hands were turning numb. It was time to stow the brushes away, close the lid on my painting and put on a pair of gloves before racing back down to civilisation. Hurrying home to make the phone call I’d promised my Mum I slipped on a large flat rock at a diagonal angle, one foot skating downhill, the rest of me unbalanced by the heavy weight of the pochade box in one hand.

I’m not sure why but I didn’t fall, just carried on on my way. Maybe those hill gods again or maybe all of that ice skating I did when I was younger.

photo showing stormy clouds over Arant Haw

stormy clouds advancing across the summit of Arant Haw

the clouds say it’s time to go home

but the sun says stay

Helen Colledge

adventures in a painted landscape

Tag Archives: Arant Haw

Path to the sky and head in the clouds

The mountains are calling and I must go