Chasing Skies

There is a certain type of artist who will pursue landscapes like a storm chaser tracking a tornado. Oliver Akers Douglas is one of them. The more remote the location, the more monstrous its topography, the more likely you are to find the British painter driving down byroads in his 4x4 studio, a converted Land Rover, to try and seek it out.

Just a few months ago, Oliver was crossing the low-lying grassy plains of Connemara with his easel packed into a golf trolley. His aim was to reach the Atlantic tip of the Ballyconneely Peninsula, a stretch of land that pierces the bit of ocean between Clifden and Roundstone.

The point is so westerly, he could see the weather beginning to thicken on the horizon above the water. All the while he stood inland, trying to capture the crisp, coastal light before the harsh Atlantic conditions really began to kick in.

“ I generally don’t put people