I’m very excited to announce the release of a new landscape painting called “Late Afternoon at St. Benet’s Abbey”.

Size: 36 x 49 cm

Oil on canvas

The landscape was painted predominantly from imagination in my studio in Cambridge, but with a glance to a few old photos to jog my memory of the size and shape of the ruins. It is a site that I have visited many times via boat with family that live nearby.

The Abbey (now derelict) is based on the River Bure in the Norfolk Broads. All that remains of the once magnificent building is fragments of the original gate house, into which was built a windmill/windpump in the 18th century.

Your eyes are lead into the picture by the direction of the river, from peering over the rushes in the foreground. The boy wearing the turquoise jersey’s outstretched hand then leads you around the corner towards the heard of cows. Going through the gate, you then follow the young couple walking a dog up to the ruins. Subtle sunbeams catch the cloud and direct your gaze towards the cross in the distance. The cross was erected at the place of the high altar, using oak from the royal estate at Sandringham. The flat horizon and exaggerated aerial perspective give a sense of the enormity of the skies in this part of East Anglia.