Hiking has become an integral part of Mitchell Fenton’s painting process; clearing of the mind, acceleration of the pulse – all in anticipation of stopping to begin a composition, whether it be in small details in the lichen and rocks with wildflowers, or cropped abstract patterns of rocks meeting a lake, or the perfect alignment of a grand vista.
Like the figure out of Casper David Friedrich’s painting Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, Fenton ventures out into the sublime realm of nature to experience something only that journey will allow. As Fenton describes “It is not the destination, but the journey, that is more important.”