An aeroplane window is an unusual frame for a landscape. The view is temporary, the angle cannot be chosen, and the wing frequently occupies a large part of it. Yet those restrictions are precisely what make the view interesting.
I have usually described these paintings as aerial landscapes. That is accurate, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Some are also aeroplane window paintings: pictures in which the window, wing or engine remains part of the composition and places the viewer firmly inside the aircraft.
Seeing a Familiar Landscape Differently
From the ground we experience a landscape, one road, field or building at a time. From an aircraft, those familiar features become part of a much larger pattern. Roads form lines through fields, towns gather into dense shapes and coastlines create a clear boundary between land and water.
The view changes constantly during a flight. On the approach to an airport, details become clearer by the second. After take-off, they quickly disappear. A photograph allows me to hold onto one brief arrangement and return to it later in the studio.
Malahide began with a view on the approach to Dublin. The town, coastline and shallow water beyond are seen through the aircraft window, with the wing and engine forming strong shapes around them. Rather than hiding the machinery, I kept it as an essential part of the painting.
In Leaving Malta, the aircraft wing cuts across a landscape already divided into roads, fields and buildings. The contrast between the solid structure of the wing and the shifting pattern below is what first interested me in the image.
From Photograph to Painting
My paintings begin with my own photographs, usually taken from the window seat. The photograph records the place, but it is only the starting point.
Back in the studio, I simplify what is there. Small details are reduced, colours are adjusted and the larger shapes become more important. Depending on the composition, I may keep the complete window or crop the view until only the landscape remains.
The result is rooted in a real place without trying to reproduce every visible detail. What matters is the arrangement of land, water, roads and aircraft—and how those elements work together as a painting.
The Window Seat Series
The Window Seat series includes coastlines, cities and rural landscapes seen during take-off, landing and flight. Some paintings clearly show the aeroplane window; in others, the origin of the view is less obvious.
Whether described as aeroplane window art, airplane window art or landscape painting from above, they all begin with the same experience: looking down at the world as it briefly simplifies into colour, shape and line.