Autumn light, Winchester College playing fields

There was a particularly beautiful light on this Autumn day at one of the entrances to Winchester College playing fields. I liked the contrast between the dark evergreen and the deciduous trees, the swaying shadows in the foreground and the way the flint and brick walls framed the distant tree line.

I view Winchester College and its environs with quite a lot of ambivalence. The college stands for privilege, wealth and power – it owns a great deal of land and property in Winchester. On the other hand, much of the land and many of the buildings are very aesthetically pleasing. My intention here, other than rendering a particular quality of light, was to demonstrate that beauty is somehow transgressive, that beauty exists outside of privilege. Another aspect, just as important, is that human agency can also be beautiful. Without the stark shadows of the wall, there would still be a beautiful view – but the wall is integral to this particular beauty.

I painted a few other local views during the time I lived in Winchester. You might like this skyscape at St. Cross. Here you can find the interior of the Queen pub, just down the road from this view, or this colour sketch of the nearby water meadows.