PEAKS and TROUGHS: New paintings of the Derbyshire Peak District by Chris Prout

On 11 April 2015 Chris Prout’s new solo exhibition opens at gallerytop. This is the eagerly anticipated show of new work after the success of Chris’ Chatsworth paintings in the summer of 2014. This is what Chris wrote about PEAKS and TROUGHS:

Peaks, Troughs and my pounding heart…

I’m taken with landlocked Derbyshire. I love its rich and diverse topography, searing hills, edges and vistas that stretch far and wide. The short and winding roads that connect and lead you to pretty villages, market towns, farmland, mills, rivers and reservoirs. The weather too plays a significant part. It can be harsh and unforgiving, yet offer stunning light and rain shows. The elements play an important part of fuelling the rivers and tributaries that energised the industry and historic mills and put this landmass on the world map. The landscape is rich in natural minerals which have been mined and quarried ceaselessly. Farming, along with the growth of housing, have carved beautiful gestures in the rise and fall of the land.

The paintings displayed here are an amalgam of images created from working drawings, musings and memories of locations sampled and enjoyed. There is a sense that you are joining me on a meandering walk, slowly discovering new paths, ancient walkways, feeling the rain, enjoying the fresh air, getting wet, gasping at the beauty, tiptoeing on the Peaks and splashing around in the troughs. In essence, it’s Derbyshire. It’s a new adventure for me and it makes my heart jump a beat. ‘I like it!’

The images shown on this blog attempt to give a sense of the various relative sizes of the paintings, though they are not to scale.

These paintings are small, all 20cm x 20cm

‘High up and Windy, Dovedale’ by Chris Prout

‘High Up, Low Cloud’ by Chris Prout

‘It’s Now History’ by Chris Prout

‘Morning Breaking, Frost Forming’ by Chris Prout

‘Spring in the Valley’ by Chris Prout

‘Spring Walk, Thinking of Crich’ by Chris Prout

‘Up country with Distant Town’ by Chris Prout

The following paintings are all 30cm x 30cm

‘Boundary Walls’ by Chris Prout

‘Cloud Rising, Goyt Valley’ by Chris Prout

‘High Up, Distant Town’ by Chris Prout

‘Link’ by Chris Prout

‘Relaxing by the Dove’ by Chris Prout

‘SAteep, with Bakewell Distant’ by Chris Prout

‘The River and Fall, Dovedale’ by Chris Prout

The following group of paintings are all 40cm x 40cm

‘The Rock and Lady’ by Chris Prout

‘The Rise and Fall on a Calm Evening’ by Chris Prout

‘Plateau, Viewed from Lickpenny’ by Chris Prout

‘Crich Stand on a Loveley Spring Day’ by Chris Prout

 The two following paintings are 50cm x 50cm

‘First Light Cuts Through the Morning Darkness’ by Chris Prout

‘The B5023 and a Lovely Road to Somewhere’ by Chris Prout

 The three following paintings are (in the region of) 70cm x 70cm

‘autumn rains, Dovedale’ by Chris Prout

‘First Frost, Priestcliffe’ by Chris Prout

Pains Passing, Goyt Valley’ by Chris Prout

The last two paintings are the largest in the exhibition at 90cm x 90 cm which, together with Chris’ trademark unique frames, make them over a metre.

‘Brooding Sky, River Valley’ by Chris Prout

‘High Up and Windy, Dovedale’ by Chris Prout