Neil is known for his energetic brushwork, brilliant palette and dramatic compositions, which he brings together to express the sensorial beauty of the West Cornwall landscape. This collection was created during the winter and spring of 2020 and 2021, when freedom of movement was restricted and the artist’s daily sketching walks on the Penwith peninsula were reduced to short bouts of ‘permitted’ exercise. Titled A Breath of Fresh Air, the collection expresses the artist’s heightened awareness of precious time spent in the landscape, and is a definitive visual record of Cornwall at an unusual time, a time of empty coves sparkling under a winter sky, ocean winds drifting across quiet moorland, and Atlantic waves crashing down upon deserted beaches.
