When you stop walking and pause to look at the countryside around you it is difficult to find one particular section of the view that typifies the whole. On the Ridgeway it is the sweep of eyes across the distance that excites and astonishes. It is the physical need to move the eyes across the terrain and the sky rather than concentrating on one area that gives the thrill. The painters problem is how to capture that experience in a picture. So often the visual interest, the elements of pattern and contrast lie in the distance and not in the immediate foreground and it is difficult to find a solution to accommodate this fact. Painters in the past have often cast a strong shadow across their foregrounds forcing the viewer to ignore it and concentrate on the view from the middle ground.
Another solution is to confine the picture to a close-up of the distance where the pattern and colour is strong enough to give a strong structure to the painting. It is as if one was studying the distance through binoculars. The result is to put the viewer in mid air as though in a low flying hot air balloon. You seem magically transported straight to the area of interest. At the same time your eye for detail and contrasts are heightened by the very fact you can concentrate your understanding of how this distant landscape works because there is no need to explain the space between where you are standing and where your eyes are looking. It is an uneasy experience.
