THE HOWGILLS, SO NEAR, SO DIFFERENT!
The Howgills look peculiar. They are certainly distinctive. Or, as A Wainwright said, like a ’herd of sleeping elephants’.
They were brought into the Yorkshire Dales National Park in 2016, which seems like a puzzle in itself: part of Cumbria in a Yorkshire Park. How gloriously odd!
To climb them requires some stamina: the ascents are steep (I thought the descents were equally brutal!); but oh my, the rewards are fabulous. Massive views all around: towards The Lakes, the Yorkshire Three Peaks, over Rawthey Valley to the east and the Lune Valley to the west. It is so high, so free, so…windy!
The lower views disappear as you climb; the undulating paths on the upper plateaux are a delight; you feel like you’re in another world.
The shapes are incredible – massive bulks of shoulders and limbs; does that look like a knee? Or an elbow? Those sleeping elephants are very much in evidence.
I begin to ponder: why are these fells so very different to all the other Yorkshire Dales moors? Where are the usual stone walls? (there are none!) Why is this land so grassy?
It is, of course, all to do with the rocks underneath. Unlike the nearby limestones of Mallerstang, Garsdale, and Dentdale to the east and south and beyond, the rocks of the Howgills are much older. A hundred million years older! These siltstones, mudtstones and sandstones were formed differently, arrived here differently…and have eroded differently. The Dent fault creates a marked division between them and their neighbours.
It gets complicated! My eyes glaze over with the geological information, and my mind returns to the landscape I can see.
It feels primeval, raw, immensely strong and unforgiving. Massive sweeps of diagonals; tremendous curves; bleak under the weathering sky. A fabulous place to be – like a secret treasure, unlocked by the climb up the hill.
Shall I paint this beautiful place on a huge canvas to show its power?
Shall I drench it with colour to convey the excitement?
Shall I use layer upon layer of rich pastel to sculpt them in 2 dimensions?
Or…. Or…. Surely their power speaks for itself?
I decide to do the opposite.
I paint them small: 26cm square. I use single colourways knowing that that is enough. I even allow some of the blank canvas to show through in the finished paintings, hinting at what’s underneath. Something different, something other worldly, something puzzling and new.
It is difficult – just like the climb itself! It requires very careful planning and lots of self-discipline to stay with the colour palette and achieve everything with just a few pastel sticks. And it requires more careful planning and discipline to keep those blank spaces.
But I did it!
HOW’S THE VIEW I, II, III and IV:
Down to Rawthey; West to the Lune Valley; Near the Top; Up to The Calf.
26cm x 26cm
Four little treasures to remind you of the huge treasures that are the Howgills. Enjoy!
