Crummock Water: The Architecture of Silence

This painting explores the quiet, steady character of the Loweswater valley in the Western Lake District. Rather than focusing on the more famous "tourist" views, this piece looks at the relationship between the heavy, ancient stone of the fells and the stillness of the water below. The view begins under the dark canopy of the Beeches in Lanthwaite Wood. I chose to paint these trees as a deep, shadowed frame to contrast with the light on the water. Within this dark foreground, the copper leaves of the beech trees persist through the winter—a botanical trait called "marcescence" that represents a quiet kind of resilience against the Cumbrian wind. The centre of the painting is dominated by Mellbreak, known locally as the "Upturned Boat." It is composed of Skiddaw Slate, some of the oldest rock in the District. Unlike the jagged volcanic peaks found elsewhere, these fells have a brooding, massive presence. Behind Mellbreak sit Carling Knott and Burnbank Fell, providing a layered depth to the composition. The poet Norman Nicholson captured the essence of this specific stone in his work, The Seven Rocks:

"The first was Skiddaw Slate... The oldest bone of the hills, Brittle and black and splintered, That once was mud in the belly of the sea. It holds the memory of the water In every slatey flake and scree."

This painting serves as a form of Visio Divina (sacred seeing). It invites a few simple reflections:

• The Help of the Mountain: Looking to the fells as a source of steady, unmoving strength.

• The Silver Peace: Finding calm in the surface of the lake, which holds the reflection—and the memory—of the mountain.

• The Hidden Help: Recognising that behind the most immediate and imposing mountain (our current challenges), there are always further layers of support waiting in the distance.

In this work, the water and the rock are inseparable. As the saying goes: "The rock stays. The water goes. But the mountain is the memory of the water." It is a reminder that even in the shadows of a steep climb, there is a silver peace to be found at the water’s edge.