I’ve been working on this painting for a while. It started out as a painting of Snowdonia, a truly beautiful part of Wales. Its a very inspiring landscape, full of wonderful colours and I really wanted to get those colours down in paint.

But part way through the painting process it gradually it took on a life of its own. First a hare appeared in the bracken, then two more came to join him. I hadn’t planned on including hares, they just turned up uninvited!

They seemed to take over, and the whole landscape seemed to grow wilder and wilder. I had planned to do something more traditional, the distant mountains painted with atmospheric perspective, the road running through the valley floor and the closer meadowlands full of colourful bracken. But somehow the whole thing exploded with colour and brush marks.

Hares have always been seen as magical creatures and I believe it now. They recreated this Welsh landscape the way they wanted it!

I loved doing this painting and the way it turned out, even if it’s nothing like the painting I had planned originally. I think this one is a keeper. :-)