\n<\/a>
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Beardsley-port1.jpg\" "\\"Excalibur")
<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Mere-port1.jpg\" "\\"Low")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nSepulcher in Pale and Porphyry<\/em><\/p>\n Had Aubrey Beardsley had time or inclination to dabble in colours, I\u2019d like to imagine that he would have chosen suitably sepulchral shades, and perhaps painted a dark and opaque lake, symbolizing the end of magic, as once-shining Excalibur disappears beneath its surface, magic leaving the world.<\/em><\/p>\n “Excalibur being reclaimed by the Lady of the Lake”. Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) for the Dent edition (1893-4) of Caxton’s imprint “Le Morte D’Arthur”.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Low land east of White Rock towards Dolphin Bay.<\/em><\/p>\n \u02dc\u02dc\u02dc<\/p>\n All the paintings I store in my head are myth-landscapes, idealized backgrounds imagined for the purposes of drama and narrative. As such, they are not real, but imagined, inspired in part perhaps by real places, more likely inspired simply by a working knowledge of their elements \u2013 sea, sky, forest and field \u2013 to create new landscapes unlike any to hand.<\/p>\n And why on earth in New Zealand, which has no real history attached to the land beyond the rich myths of the Maori? Well*, because few countries have acquired simultaneously \u2013 and so suddenly – both a real and a mythical presence in the eyes of the modern world. If the spectacular landscape of New Zealand lends itself so perfectly to the unfolding of Bilbo\u2019s adventures and Frodo\u2019s epic journey through the majestic panoramas of Middle Earth, there surely follows a moment to muse on the enduring existence of other enchanted realms, steeped in saga and sorcery, perceived through the prism of a photographer\u2019s lens and an artist\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n Or something like that. Please bear with me. Applied Apophenia and Practical Pareidolia are relatively new disciplines.<\/p>\n All the Wood\u2019s a Stage<\/em><\/p>\n The forest is almost a deus ex machina, a stage effect destined to abolish distance by silhouetting itself against the sky, and placing impenetrable depths in front of the horizon, that same distance that separates the hero from other men, that make the difficulties he faces insurmountable for all but a hero. The distortion of space is extraordinary, an infinity can be contained in the dark under the forest eaves. This is of course not measured in miles, but in eons, the perilous wood so dear to modern mythmakers like Robert Holdstock.<\/em><\/p>\n “Lancelot approaching the Castle of Astolat”. Illustration by Gustave Dor\u00e9 (1832 – 1883)\u00a0 for The Story of Elaine, the Lily Maid of Astolat, published by E. Moxon, London c. 1879<\/em><\/p>\n Woods south of Pukerua Bay \u02dc\u02dc\u02dc<\/p>\n The links between mythology and landscape are particularly strong (to the apopheniac\u2019s perceivably dysmorphic eye) in the peculiar shapes of branches, roots and boulders contorted by fierce winds and torrential rains, twisted and eroded over time. The resultant fanciful associations with ancient lore and legend, often beheld fleetingly from the corner of one\u2019s eye, or at least in a certain way of looking or seeing \u2013 the unusual angle, the unexpected approach – offer a more appealing interpretation of their origins than the prosaic explanations of science, although no doubt geologists would disagree. They would be well inspired to; this is about eidos<\/em>, not erosion; about phantasmagorical structures and sources of legend, not the history of the Earth’s formation.<\/p>\n I\u2019m looking forward to the \u201couting\u201d \u2013 naturally, it will be imagery gleaned over three years of a diligent dilettante\u2019s searching (longer if Peter suddenly decides a tetralogy is more appealing than a trilogy), but I\u2019m hoping that my thoughts will follow my feet not only into real landscapes but into mythical ones, and that the bridges between the two, and the rapprochement<\/em> with the visions of long-vanished artists (the world in their<\/em> eyes) will become clear, like the clouds that part, suddenly revealing an unexpected vista.<\/p>\n However, I\u2019m a pertinacious pilgrim. Nonetheless, the day job only leaves weekends free (for now at least) but the signposts are materializing along hitherto trackless pathways, and through the tangled and brambly wilderness of thought and memory a discernible trajectory will eventually emerge. I hope.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve packed a lunch at any rate.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n *Well, because I happen to be here, and it is an extraordinary landscape on which one\u2019s own fantasies seem effortless to transpose.<\/em><\/p>\n \u02dc\u02dc\u02dc<\/p>\n With thanks, as ever, to Ann Carling, for her diligent research and editing.<\/em><\/p>\n \u02dc\u02dc\u02dc\u02dc\u02dc\u02dc<\/p>\n AND SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY<\/p>\n I recently did a stint as contest judge for a digital art community (which was, happily, right up my alley, as the subject was one I enjoy: dragons).<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n