
The landscape of the hill country has its unique and almost other worldly character. Tea plantations scatter the iron red soil of the hillsides and valley folds with ordered rows of low tea bushes interspersed with tall shade giving trees. At 2000 metres, high on a crowning ridge, the well known planter Thomas Lipton planted a viewing platform, known as Lipton's Seat. From here wide and misty vistas sweep down to the town of Haputale on the one side and plunge to ridge after rolling ridge down to the distant coast on the other.
The paintings in this series were inspired by a journey by train into this strange and beautiful landscape. They are not intended as a portrayal from a particular viewpoint but an evocation of my impressions and an interpretation of my sense of the essence of the tumbling hillsides. The somewhat quirky titles that I give them are not deliberated upon but seem to well out of my subconscious after completing the painting. They extend into the realm of poetic ideas; they add another layer but are not to be taken literally or descriptively.
The paintings in this series were inspired by a journey by train into this strange and beautiful landscape. They are not intended as a portrayal from a particular viewpoint but an evocation of my impressions and an interpretation of my sense of the essence of the tumbling hillsides. The somewhat quirky titles that I give them are not deliberated upon but seem to well out of my subconscious after completing the painting. They extend into the realm of poetic ideas; they add another layer but are not to be taken literally or descriptively.