Award-winning palette knife artist Heather Burton explores the impact of light and atmosphere on our ever-changing landscapes and the stillness that can be found at the heart of our natural world.

At the heart of our natural world is a beautiful silence.

A place of no traffic. No planes. No people.

At the beginning of 2020 we experienced that stillness.

Then came the hesitant restructuring of nature. As the towns, cities and villages across the country came to a standstill, the wildlife gradually edged closer. Within weeks, the verges start to bloom with wild flowers. Birds we hadn’t seen for years gradually inched their way into our gardens and animals came out of hiding.

For the first time in a long time, we became acutely aware of the seasons. Not just on a month-by-month basis, but on a weekly, daily and even hourly basis. Subtle changes in the landscape became big changes as the weather fluctuated between stormy skied and golden sunlight.

Every nuance, every shift in weather pattern brought a dramatic change to the landscape. It was these fleeting moments of intense light and sudden changes in the vibrancy of the landscape which I want to capture on canvas.

As a result, my paintings developed with a greater appreciation of the ever-changing light, mood and vibrancy of our northern landscapes, coupled with the awareness of it’s vast beauty and solitude when left to it’s own devices.

Heather Burton shows her paintings from 09:30 - 17:00hrs daily on the third floor of the Northern Lights Gallery, 22 St John’s Street, Keswick ’til Sunday 9 January 2022.