STANTON MOOR 1. The Nine Ladies; 2. Ethereal Rite; 3. Eclipse over Stanton Moor; 4. Sacro Sanctus THE NINE LADIES oil on canvas | 36" x 48" | 2001 | £NFS #LE5 print run 250 A3 | #GC41 (detail) A rather linear image: the site is on flat moorland and I wanted to accentuate the fact that the horizon is unobtainable since it is just below the eyeline and single-file birches. The lines of the clouds reflect the slight curves of the plateau and the bank and ditch. SACRO SANCTUS oil on canvas | 24" x 48" | 2003 | £450 Viewed from across the moor on a pastel day which accentuated the vibrancy of the heather. The title refers to its role in the landscape and human perception. The circle itself is minimally represented in this landscape although the flat layers of the heather, scrub and horizon still retain them as the focus beneath one of those pale clouded skies which never seem to clear, a microcosm of eternity. Back to: The Gallery | Home

ETHEREAL RITE oil on canvas | 12" x 12" | 2004 | £NFS This image appears on the posters for the exhibition, Of Earth & Stone 2, at Samlesbury Hall in 2006. ECLIPSE OVER STANTON MOOR oil on canvas | 20" x 50" | 2001 | £450 #LE6 print run 250 A3 The circle viewed through the forked birch as you approach, with the lunar eclipse of early 2001 stealing the night. Whilst the silver birch is rendered as a basic silhouette its nature is reflected by built-up layers of oil and in the light it casts as opposed to heavy shadow. This photo is admittedly much lighter than the original art - my photographic "skills" allowed a tad too much reflection at the base. A print of this piece was voted runner-up in the Art Head Prize at Interaction's Art Show (The 63rd World Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers & Artists Convention, 2005). THE NINE LADIES, DERBYSHIRE The Nine Ladies is a small bronze age circle high on Stanton Moor, a sandstone plateau measuring 60 hectares, and an extensive bronze age burial site. Surrounded by over 70 bronze age barrows and cairns, producing discoveries from flint and bronze daggers, axes, glass beads to collared urns and over 80 cremations, The Nine Ladies is a small embanked circle of millstone grit. Set into a low rubble bank, with entrances to the north east and south west, it measures 35’ in diameter and none of the stones exceed 3’ in height. A tenth stone was found lying flat in 1979 and 120’ to the south west stands the King’s Stone (aka The Fiddler’s Stone), which has been occasionally moved and even hit by a car. Other circles of stone were still in existence in this locale up until the late C18th, and the beautiful site of Doll Tor is not far away. OS: SK.249.635 South on the B5056 from the A6, take the minor road through Stanton-in-Peak towards Birchover. Along a footpath east halfway between Stanton-in-Peak & Birchover. Alternatively, take the minor road from Stanton-in-Peak towards Stanton Lees & several footpaths lead south to the site.