Tanya King

Impermanent awe

In this series of landscape paintings, I explore feelings of awe and impermanence.

Mountains can evoke wonder and reverence combined with a sense of foreboding and fear. Their epic proportions, remind us of things greater than ourselves. They appear permanent but the elemental forces that govern them are volatile and mostly outside of our control. These things highlight our own vulnerability.   

I have used oil paint to explore the elemental and a cool muted palette to represent foreboding. The panoramic format is to surround the viewer and accentuate the vastness of the looming mountain range. The looseness of the brushwork emphasises change and fleetingness – even the mountain won’t last forever.

Though reflecting on things greater than ourselves can lead to feelings of awe, perhaps the greater wonder is that all things are in fact impermanent.