Circles in the Landscape
Drawings by Philip Hughes
(20 September - 8 November 2008)

Philip Hughes has been recording the landscape in paint and on paper for more than 35 years and has travelled extensively.
 
The drawings in this exhibition concentrate on the great stone circles of the United Kingdom. These ancient sites, their construction and significance are the subject of continuing archaeological research, particularly here in Orkney, with this summer’s recent excavations at Brodgar.

The drawings are created out of doors on location and are completed in one sitting. A simple line is employed to describe these complicated structures and their surroundings. The practicalities of working en plein air on such a large scale means that the artist is often working close to the ground, presenting a very particular and less familiar view point.

The purpose and resonant presence of these structures still challenges and stimulates thinking today and through the drawings of Philip Hughes, with their meticulous observation and beauty, that fascination is maintained helping form a greater understanding of these ancient sites