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Programme Note

While I was in the early stages of writing this piece I heard a radio programme which discussed the attraction to the human mind of landscape painting in terms of distance - that is, the opportunity to see things out of one's immediate environment - and refuge, the safe and secure vantage point from which it is seen. It was argued that these two aspects, properly balanced, made up an effective landscape painting.

I then thought about this in relation to actual landscapes with which I was familiar, particularly those of Caithness in the north of Scotland, and in London. it occurred to me that if put in the middle of either landscape, the deprivation of refuge and distance respectively could lead to an accentuation of the opposite condition: refuge would become claustrophobia and distance agoraphobia. Both ultimately result in extreme isolation, and this is the main thought that leads to my piece.

© Stuart MacRae