The High Mound | Silliot Hill

I made my way out of Kildare Town toward the low rising land.
Silliot Hill is an island of antiquity in a sea of flat land.
To see it is to understand the ancient sense of boundary and place.

This high barrow commands the attention of any traveler.I am drawn to its clean circular form.
The sheer size of the mound on such flat land is a powerful artistic statement.My sketches focus on how it holds the center of the world around it.
I am looking at how to capture its shape without losing the soft edges.
There is a texture of history in the soil.

I see it from the road and it has a profound presence.
Beneath the turf lies the memory of an ancient village a sprawling settlement where people built their lives five thousand years ago.
They raised their timber posts and dried their grain on wicker platforms long before the modern roads carved up the landscape.
It is a heavy thought to realize how much life has passed over this single elevation.

The circular ring barrow sits quietly on the high ground a deliberate geometric bank enclosing a shallow ditch.
It feels less like a simple tomb and more like a great meeting place an assembly ground where the living gathered to honor the ancestors.

The palette is a subtle wash of pale moss greens muted gold and the deep slate gray of a threatening midlands sky.

I am inclined to work with heavy rough paper and layers of charcoal to capture the shadows along the earthen slopes.

Using raw gesso and natural earth pigments directly on the page will allow me to build up the organic textures of the mound itself.

I am inspired to use graphite lines to trace the sweeping curve of the hill against the horizon keeping the forms minimal and fluid.