Post 1004 | Mountains Pass

I feel giddy with the excitement of this past week on The Daily Norm. Celebrating the moment when my blog reached 1000 posts gave me a perfect opportunity to take a retrospective glance back across 6 years of musings, and realise just how vital blogging has become in my life. As this week nears its end, I felt it was time to look forwards again, and as The Daily Norm surges forwards into a new thousand, I wanted to share one of my newest artworks with you.
Entitled Mountains Pass, this gouache was inspired by the most momentous of train journeys which we enjoyed on a perfectly streamlined, brilliantly efficient Swiss train as we traversed the boarder between Italy and Switzerland and sped through the stunningly snow-topped Alpine scenery on our way to Zurich. Journeys are so often a means to an end, but this one was an event all of its own.

Mountains Pass (Journey to Zurich) ©2018 Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, gouache on paper
Sitting in the very luxurious first class carriage, we were able to enjoy these views from the comfiest of seats; and the views couldn’t have been any better. As if they weren’t vast enough already, the enormous mountains were doubled by their reflection is mirror-still lakes, while up their craggy sides, little idyllic wooden chalets pumped small streams of log fire smoke into the clear blue sky. It was just like the most perfect Christmas card image blown up into super-sized reality.
So from that journey to this: a simple gouache which, with modern lines and an earthy colour palette which recalls the scenery as it sped past our windows and I gazed, captivated, by the majesty of landscape before me. As the mountains passed by, this image lodged itself in my mind. Now it’s on paper and ripe to be shared in this new era of The Daily Norm.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2011-2018. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
Very creative the way you interpreted the sky & reflection. Must have taken something thought to figure that out?
Thank you Naomi! Yep, you’re right, the image is deceptively simple and took a fair bit of calculation as to how I was going to combine stripes and reflection. But so good to know it is hitting the spot and is liked, as it was something of an experimentation! Thank you!!
Well, your experiment was successful. 🙂
I.Love.It
Your guaches are my favorites, you know, and this one is a mountain… I find them fascinating… and the way you develop the elements… they get simpler and better… thumbs up for this one!
Thank you!! Oh yes, and I know from your instagram that you enjoy the most wonderful mountain views daily! Thanks so much for your admiration, and your share!