The Paintings that take me back to Snowdonia

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On the morning of January 29th, an article appeared in the Guardian (online version) written by Paul Scraton, a writer who is now resident in Berlin, about his reminscences of visiting Snowdonia with his parents, who were good friends of my wife and I. Paul who is now in his early forties based his piece on my book 'The Snowdonia Collection'.

With the lockdown Paul has been unable to travel to the UK and the Welsh mountains but "when physical journeys are not possible, there are ways to remain connected" and one way in which he was able to remain connected was by returning to the paintings of Snowdonia featured in my book. He writes about various aspect of the book, the short essay's, the painting notes but most of all the paintings.

Below are a couple of paragraphs to give you a flavour of the piece and below that is a link which takes you to the full Guardian article. There is also a link to the original piece which Paul wrote for the online magazine, 'Caught by the River' to which he is a contributor.

"This year has been the first in at least a decade, and maybe even more, that I have not travelled back to Britain, and visiting family and friends, let alone the mountains, has been difficult — if not impossible. It’s probably no coincidence, therefore, that this strange and anxious year has been the first in which I’ve really felt the distance between where I am now and where I came from. Thankfully, even when physical journeys are not possible, there are ways to remain connected, and we’ve made the most of them."
"I was given the book a couple of years ago, signed by Rob for my fortieth birthday, and I’ve turned to it a lot this year. I read his essays on landscape painting, printed in both Welsh and English, and his walking journal entries, enjoying his reflections on the mountains and his artwork, his passion for these places shining through in his words as it does in his paintings. And he talks about his love for mountaineering, something that I grew up with, and through his words I feel a connection to my parents and those who walked the hills, in sunshine and cloud, with them and later with us."

To read the full piece click on the link below:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2021/jan/29/paintings-take-me-back-to-mountains-snowdonia-wales

The piece was originally written for the online publication 'Caught by the River', which has an intriguing concept, one which I can relate to: 

 "Conceived as an online meeting place for pursuits of a distinctly non-digital variety — walking, fishing, looking, thinking, birdsong and beer, adventure and poetry; life’s small pleasures, in all their many flavours — it was, and still is, about stepping out of daily routines to re-engage with nature. Finding new rhythms. Being."

https://www.caughtbytheriver.net/2020/12/shadows-and-reflections-paul-scraton-4/ 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Scraton Snowdon The Guardian The Snowdonia Collection Wales
The Paintings that take me back to Snowdonia