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The Ouse at Kilpin Pike is a 16x20 oil painting that captures a striking scene along the quiet banks of the River Ouse, just north of Goole in East Yorkshire. Painted in June 2022, this piece is full of movement, color, and texture—a meditation on place, memory, and the unexpected beauty of curved earth meeting slow water.
The scene shows a lone boat moored on the edge of the river, with Kilpin Pike just visible in the hazy distance. But what pulled me in that day was the curve of the grass—how the patterns on the riverside bank seemed to flow like the water beside them, coaxing your eye toward the boat. It was a rhythm I had to paint.
The brushwork in this piece is active and layered—blades of grass twisting, water glinting, clouds dragging across the sky in broken strokes. I leaned into my post-impressionist instincts here: heightened color, visible energy, and a desire to show how the scene felt, not just how it looked.
As someone who grew up not far from here, this painting hits a personal nerve. The flatlands and muddy banks of this part of England aren’t always described as beautiful, but for me, they are full of subtle power. The kind of beauty you only catch when you’re quiet enough to see it.