Paying Respects. Painting

The inspiration for this painting came from an idea I had for a novel. The novel still hasn't been written but certain imagined scenes are firmly established in my mind. In this scene a soldier makes an official visit to the grave of a fallen comrade. The soldier wears his best dress uniform out of respect for the occasion, but it is noticeable that the simply attired widow of the deceased, and the shabby hilltop grave she could afford, are in stark contrast to the pompous formality of the representative of the army. Whilst both the soldier and the widow share genuine grief for the deceased, their relationship to the dead man is entirely different. I wanted to capture the point where their two worlds touch, in that brief period of shared emotion. The soldier will return to his structured life, and the wife will continue with hers. The depiction of the crisply uniformed soldier is rendered to appear 'out of place' in relation to the woman, whose earth - colour clothing and defensive posture hint at the reality she faces and lack of choices she can see in the future. The inspiration for the bleak landscape comes from Peter Graham's great painting 'After the massacre of Glencoe' (1889). I wanted a brooding, harsh environment for the scene that dwarfed the figures, and spoke of the hard life the widow will surely lead. I used a crimson underpainting to contrast with the sombre greys in the landscape. In the rocky foreground the brighter warm colours give depth to the scene.

Painting:Oil on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:30 W x 23.5 H x 1 D in

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